Brentford director Lee Dykes has confessed that Ivan Toney could be sold soon if the club receive a bid which is too good to turn down.
Toney, who will return from a gambling ban on January 16, is approaching the final 18 months of his contract and has been identified as a possible winter target by both Arsenal and Chelsea.
“There will be lots of interest in Ivan in January,” Dykes told club media. “Naturally, there should be.
“He was the third-highest Premier League goalscorer last season – one of them [Harry Kane] has gone to Germany now, so he’s up there as one of the best strikers in the division. He is in the top five in the world, in my opinion.
“So there should be interest, and maybe the time comes very shortly that Ivan moves on to another club.
“But they will have to pay a decent transfer fee to acquire his services because he is some talent.”
90min understands Brentford are prepared to demand in excess of £80m to part ways with Toney, who fears such a figure will price him out of a January move.
Toney has interest from the Premier League’s elite / Clive Rose/GettyImages
“We sit in front of every player and say that, if your career goals are above and beyond us, at the right time and if your valuation is met, then we will be open to listening to the numbers. But it’s got to be right for all parties,” Dykes continued.
“There’s a lot of thinking and planning that goes into a sale of any potential player at your club. It’s not just a case of, you get a bid and say, ‘Oh, that’s nice, we’ll accept it’.
“We look at how it’s going to affect the club, the team, the morale around the place, new acquisitions, player pathways underneath from the B team and the academy.
“There’s always a willingness from Brentford to do what’s right. So if a deal is there to be done, then we are more than willing to play ball, which the club have proved with Ollie [Watkins], Saïd [Benrahma] and David [Raya].
“But, equally, we will try and hold on to players so that we maximise their potential with Brentford. We will know when that point is.
“Clubs often make an enquiry at the wrong time for us, the wrong time for the player, and we don’t strike deals.”
