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Ivan Toney will ‘most likely be sold in the summer’, Brentford boss Thomas Frank has confirmed amid interest from Arsenal and Chelsea.
The 28-year-old recently returned to action after an eight-month ban for gambling offenses and will have just 12 months left on his contract with the Bees at the end of the campaign.
Toney, who scored in his first game last month, has attracted interest from top Premier League clubs but Brentford managed to hold on to their talisman during a quiet January transfer window.
But with the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea prioritizing a striker in the summer and with half a season’s worth of playing time under his belt, Frank has admitted Toney is likely to leave this summer.
“It is quite clear that Ivan Toney will most likely be sold in the summer,” the Bees boss told Danish magazine Tipsbladet. ‘It can be expensive to sell your best player, but on the other hand I also know that he will only have a one-year contract with us by the summer.
Ivan Toney recently returned to action after an eight-month ban for gambling offences
Brentford boss Thomas Frank has admitted that the striker is likely to leave the club this summer
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‘We also know what he is worth. I don’t think there are many strikers in the world right now who are better than him.
‘He is a very good striker, who is in his prime football age. Personally, as a coach I would prefer to keep Toney, but one day it could be nice to see him on a top team.
“We didn’t actually have an offer for him this winter, but I would be surprised if there aren’t many clubs interested in him.”
The England international has made no secret of his ambitions to play for an elite side and even reiterated his desire to do the same last month.
He told Sky Sports that you can never predict when the time is right to move on, but stressed his desire to play for a ‘top club’, adding: ‘Whether January is the right time for a club to come in and pay the right money, who knows?’
As well as helping Brentford stave off the threat of relegation, the forward will set his sights on claiming a place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad as a substitute for Harry Kane at this summer’s European Championship.