Brentford midfielder Ivan Toney has delivered a one-word warning to potential transfer suitors as he continues his comeback from injury. The England international admitted to 232 betting offenses earlier this year, earning him an eight-month footballing ban that will allow him to play competitively again in January 2024.
Toney has returned to training and playing for Brentford in recent weeks, with the latter coming in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Italian club Como, where he scored. Brentford manager Thomas Frank revealed after the game what he advised Toney before his first appearance in nearly five months.
“I said to him just before he entered the pitch, ‘enjoy it,’ [he said] ‘I will,’ and you can see he really enjoyed getting out there just to play football,” Frank stated when asked how it felt to have the club’s star back in action. “He looked like he enjoyed it and he does what Ivan does, he scored a goal so it was very good to see he was happy after.”
The 27-year-old is set to leave the Bees in a future window, which may be in the next few months, with Arsenal and Chelsea interested in his services. Tottenham and Liverpool have also been mentioned as possible destinations, however Chelsea appeared to be the clear favorites.
Given their decision not to sign an elite-level natural striker in the summer, they appeared to be clear frontrunners.
However, it now appears that Arsenal are ahead of their London rivals after it was recently disclosed that Mikel Arteta and Edu were ready to approach Brentford for Toney in the summer if his ban had not been imposed, and it has also been claimed that Toney wants the trade.
According to the Daily Mail, Toney wants to join Arsenal in January, with Arteta believing his character and physicality tick a lot of boxes. And now, as the international break comes to an end, Toney has sent a one-word statement on social media.
Toney shared a video of himself on an exercise bike with the phrase “showtime” before panning up to the Dubai skyline, where he is now located, on Instagram. Despite having to practice by himself for much of the summer, Toney has routinely tweeted updates on what he has been doing away from the pitch, maybe as a clear message to teams interested in signing him that despite a lack of significant action, he would be fit and ready to play in January.
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