Liverpool urged to gazump Arsenal and Chelsea in race for superstar striker

Martin Macdonald

• 19 Jan 2024 17:09 GMT
• 3 min read

Liverpool have been urged to join the race to sign Brentford striker Ivan Toney.

The England international is set to return to Premier League action this weekend against Nottingham Forest for the Bees, having spent the last eight months serving a ban for breaching gambling regulations.

Arsenal and Chelsea are the two teams thought to be leading the race for in-demand Toney’s signature but neither will pounce in January.

The Gunners are close to their FFP limits while Chelsea have a long-term aim of signing Victor Osimhen from Napoli.

Indeed, Toney recently revealed that he would seek to stay put at the Gtech Community Stadium through this window in order to pay Brentford back for the support they have shown him during his ban.

The possibility of signing a new contract with Thomas Frank’s side has not been ruled out either with his current terms expiring in 2025 and a new deal could help Brentford secure a bigger fee when the time eventually comes to sell.

Toney in, Gakpo out?

And now Stan Collymore has urged his former side to get involved in the bidding with Cody Gakpo not reckoned to be up to the standard required in order to score goals consistently in Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side.

“For me, if Liverpool decided to come calling, that would be perfect,” Collymore wrote in his CaughtOffside column.

“I know they already have an embarrassment of riches in forward areas but if any of them were offloaded in the coming months, the Brentford star could be a great addition. I rate [Ivan] Toney so highly that I could see him in between [Mohamed] Salah and [Luis] Diaz.

“Liverpool will likely look at him and say ‘not for us’ but if I was the Reds, I would genuinely be inclined to let [Cody] Gakpo go, who I don’t think will go on to become a prolific Liverpool striker, and replace him with Toney. If they offered Brentford cash and Gakpo, I wonder if the Bees would go for that?

“Toney would add something significant to Liverpool as he can play as a traditional nine, he can drop off and he has proven with [Bryan] Mbeumo that he can forge partnerships. For me, I would be giving Brentford a call.”