It doesn’t look like any club is yet pushing hard to sign Ivan Toney from Brentford this summer. I suspect it will heat up soon, but I’m wondering whether there is something more to the reasoning as to why Chelsea, and other interested clubs, have not pushed for him yet.
Chelsea have been interested in Toney for quite some time and were about to make an approach before he got his ban. I’m sure there’s elements about those issues that might put some clubs off.
His price was also another thing, and perhaps his age. But we heard he should be gettable for £40m this summer, which for me is a decent price for a striker of his stature.
I’ve said before that I think Chelsea need his profile in this squad – we don’t have a player like it. In the England game on Sunday, Toney showed exactly what he brings. Quite simply, he’s an outlet, he’s a possession keeper, and he’s a physical nuisance to defenders. He bullies them, he wins vital fouls, and he wins vital duels. This is what we need in our squad.
That’s even before mentioning his vital experience and also, bags of Premier League experience and now international experience too. He ticks so many boxes.
He came on when England really needed him to do a job, and he did just that, assisting Harry Kane and just really giving Slovakia a problem to deal with, much more than Kane did all game (other than his goal that he could not miss).
Toney drops in to get on the ball but he also gets in the box at the right times. Chelsea should be all over it, unless there is a deeper reason that we don’t know about, as to why they have pulled away from him – and it better not be because of his age! Maybe it’s an attitude issues, who knows. Just remember though, nobody other than Chelsea fans liked Diego Costa much either…..
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