It’s not often that some Brentford – Crystal Palace team news makes headlines on Chelsea websites, but it’s the 18th of August, with the end of the transfer window closing in, so strange things are bound to happen.
The Bees are about to take on the Birds at the Gtech Stadium, and it’s a player who has been left out who is attracting attention. Ivan Toney has been linked with moves abroad all summer – including to Chelsea – but so far there’s been little movement.
Then today he’s left out of their squad for the opening game of the season – cue manager Thomas Frank opening the door to a transfer:
“A lot of things are going on with Ivan. There is some transfer interest and so we decided not to involve him in the squad. I can’t give too much away… There is interest, but a deal is not closed.”
Ben Jacobs points out that Saudi Side Al Ahli are interested, and that Toney would want a salary of “over €20m” to consider moving there.
Chelsea’s chances still look slim
A tall, powerful, Premier League experienced striker in his prime. One can easily see him coming into this Chelsea team and doing well right away.
But as it stands, we still don’t see this move happening. The sporting directors might be tempted to bend their rules about signing young players if it meant getting in a real top striker in their prime – but the fact that Toney has serious interest already in place from Saudi Arabia means his wage demands are simply going to be too high to fit with the rest of our squad.
It’s not clear what Brentford’s demands would be, but they wouldn’t be cheap. We would imagine Toney seals a move to the Middle East – and not to Chelsea – within the next week.