Paul Scholes believes Ivan Toney would be the perfect signing for Arsenal this summer despite Brentford valuing the striker at £50million. Toney has been widely tipped to depart the Bees this summer, with Arsenal among the clubs said to be keen on snapping him up.
The 28-year-old has made no secret of his desire to leave Brentford for a bigger club if the opportunity presents itself. He currently has no plans to extend his contract, meaning he is likely to depart this summer or at the end of the season when his current deal runs out.
Toney has already shown that he is more than capable of scoring in the Premier League with 36 goals across the last three seasons. Scholes is adamant that he would thrive up top for Arsenal, who could benefit from signing an out-and-out goalscorer to lead the line in attack.
Speaking on The Overlap, Scholes said: “Ivan Toney is the one who has been mentioned a lot. What is he? 28 years of age. I think in an Arsenal team he could score you 25 goals. I think in a lot of teams he could score 25 goals.”
It has been reported that Brentford initially valued Toney at £80m but have since reduced their asking price to £50m. It means Arsenal will have the opportunity to sign him for less than what they paid to land Kai Havertz last summer.
However, a recent long-term injury to Igor Thiago could force Brentford to keep Toney despite knowing that he will leave on a free transfer if he is not sold this summer. Thiago, who was effectively signed as a long-term replacement for Toney, is expected to be sidelined until the end of the year.
If Arsenal decide to firm up their reported interest in Toney, they could ask Declan Rice to convince him to join them over the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea. The two players struck up a close bond while on England duty at the Euros and were seen partying in Ibiza last month.
Rice opened up on his friendship with Toney ahead of England’s defeat to Spain in the final, saying: “With Ivan, I think we have just clicked. Ever since he got into the squad, we just got on. I think even from his time at Brentford, you know, we used to speak all the time after games and stuff.
“We have always got on and we are really close now, which is really nice. We spend a lot of time together and just even seeing him the other night when he got his first minutes, made the impact, got the assist, obviously took his pen like he did, it was just incredible.
“He has been unbelievable in this tournament for the whole squad, so, yeah, he is a really, really good friend of mine now.”
