This January was all talk and no action. The usual rumours ramped up, but when the dust settled, it was a phoney war. Very little was spent around the world, and Chelsea bought nobody.
At the peak of the hype, there was talk of Ivan Toney moving for £100m. He was massively in demand, with several teams desperate for a new striker, but by February there had been no movement in the market.
It looks like Brentford’s scare tactics worked. They want to keep their talisman until the summer, and they’ll get their wish. But how much will they ask forhim then?
Caughtoffside quote Fabrizio Romano in saying that the £100m was never realistic, and that they are ready to sell this summer, whether or not they go down:
“Ivan Toney will not continue at Brentford after the summer. This is the expectation with one year left on his contract,†Romano wrote.
“Ahead of the January transfer window, between October and November, Brentford were looking to ask for £60m-£65m for Ivan Toney. Then what happened?
“On the market, there were no other strikers available. Osimhen wasn’t available. Sesko wasn’t available and many others were not available, and so they decided to put a different price tag on Ivan Toney, something around £100m.
“No one made a proposal because they didn’t want to spend that money for a player who was out of contract in summer 25. So now, in the summer transfer window as the manager Thomas Frank mentioned, the idea is for Ivan Toney to join a top club.
“He’s had a new agent since August so let’s see what’s going to happen at Arsenal. They never made a proposal in January but he’s always been one of the players appreciated by the club.
“Let’s see what’s going to happen at Chelsea too because we know that Victor Osimhen is on the list.â€
We still think we’re likely to make a move for Toney this summer, especially if Victor Osimhen goes elsewhere. But the price will be far less than what we heard quoted in the last month.
