Chelsea and Arsenal alerted as Ivan Toney eyeing move to 'top club'

Premier League heavyweights Chelsea and Arsenal have received positive news in terms of their striker pursuit this month as Brentford forward Ivan Toney has signalled his desire for a transfer to a ‘top club’. Toney’s admission has suddenly created an intriguing scenario in the January transfer landscape.

The 27-year-old, who completed his eight-month ban for betting breaches, finally returns to action for Brentford against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

With a dearth of quality strikers in the market at present, a prolific goal-scorer like Toney is in high demand. The Bees value their coveted star at £100million and any club interested would have to cough up a significant amount to secure his services.

In an interview to Sky Sports, Toney revealed his ambitions saying:

"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."

With just 18 months remaining in his current deal at Brentford, clubs seeking a potent striker like Toney might eventually have to pay an astronomical fee, however, the timing of the transfer remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, manager Thomas Frank is absolutely sure the Englishman will be staying at the Gtech Community Stadium beyond January.

Toney was instrumental in Nottingham Forest’s promotion to the Premier League and has scored 32 goals in 66 appearances in the English top flight in the last two seasons. Now he gears up to reclaim his lost glory once he features for Nottingham Forest for the first time this season, having played a competitive game back in May last year.

His only international cap for England came against Ukraine last March but he still dreams of representing the national team in the European Championship in the summer.

Speaking of his admiration of England’s first choice striker Harry Kane, Toney said:

"To be the best, you have to play with the best and compete against the best. We all know Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the world and he’s been doing it for some years now."

"If I want to be England’s No 1, then I have to compete against him. He’s not a bad striker to be taking tips off and be training with. I just have to keep scoring goals, keep playing well and then who knows what could happen? If I just fall short, then hopefully I can become the second best in the world."