‘I want to play for a top club’ – Ivan Toney opens door to January transfer with Chelsea circling for Brentford star
IVAN TONEY has refused to rule out a transfer away from Brentford this month after admitting he wants to play for a “top club”.
The striker, 27, is allowed to play for Thomas Frank‘s side again after serving an eight-month ban for breaching betting rules.
Toney is set to be back in action for the Bees in their Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The single-capped England ace has impressed with Brentford B, scoring a hat-trick against Southampton Under-21‘s and netting a panenka penalty against Brondby in recent weeks.
Paired with his 20-goal exploits in the top flight before his ban last season, transfer interest in Toney has been rife with teams such as Chelsea and Manchester United reportedly interested.
Arsenal have also been heavily linked, though SunSport understands that move will not happen this month.
Frank recently insisted he is “99 per cent confident” his star man will NOT be sold during the January window.
However, Toney has refused to rule out a move as he bids to make Gareth Southgate‘s Three Lions squad for the summer’s European Championships in Germany.
Asked whether this month was the right time for him to move on from Brentford, Toney told Sky Sports: “I don’t know. You can never predict when’s the right time to move elsewhere.
“But it’s obvious I want to play for a top club, everyone wants to play for a top club and fight for titles.
“Whether it’s this January that is the right time for a club to come in and pay the right money, who knows.”
Reports have suggested relegation-threatened Brentford could charge as much as £100million to sell Toney this month.
SunSport revealed in November how Toney was torn over the idea of a winter transfer, feeling he has a debt to repay to Brentford for sticking by him.
And Toney has reflected this by admitting he got “goosebumps” from hearing fans sing his name even after months of inaction.
He said: “Frank has been nothing but the biggest help I could have asked for.
“The whole club has – from putting extra sessions on for me, from taking their time out to put a session on and go outside when it’s raining, when they’re not supposed to be in.
“I have a lot to repay them and I can’t wait to try and do that.
“The fans were behind me. Even when I wasn’t at their games, they were singing my name.
“A friend of mine sent me a video of the fans singing my name. I got goosebumps to know that they’re still behind me, even though I’m not there.”
Toney staying put would please Gary Neville, who said he hopes the “brilliant” forward snubs a transfer elsewhere.
On his ban being lifted, Toney added: “I feel like a free man. A massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I can’t wait to get back to enjoying playing football again this Saturday.
“My whole family knows what the weekends are about – they travel down to watch me play football. Missing that for eight months is painful.
“You can become a bit lost in the world, but I had the right people around me to help me get to places to train and do the right exercises.
“When I was working hard away from the pitch, I had a moment to feel sorry for myself but then after that you snap out of it.
“To a certain extent [there is guilt] but things happen in life. You take it on the chin and you move forward with it. I should have been helping the team.
“I feel bad but I can’t dwell on it. I can’t change what’s happened. What’s done is done. Hopefully I can now put on a show.
“I feel like I lost connection, the Wifi went! But now we’re back on again.”
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