Arsenal and Chelsea now told who £100m January target would ‘prefer’ to join

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Ivan Toney is leaning towards joining Arsenal rather than Chelsea.

According to The Mirror, Arsenal have identified Ivan Toney as their primary target for the upcoming January transfer window.

However, as reported by Sky Sports, the Bees are prepared to demand £100 million in exchange for the striker. On top of that, Toney himself is thought to be torn over the prospect of leaving Brentford this winter.

All in all, it seems that this will be a tough deal for Arsenal to get done, and they will likely need to make sales in order to fund a move for the once-capped England man. As things stand, Arsenal only have a very limited transfer budget available to them, with January approaching.

Mikel Arteta will be heartened by the news that Arsenal are at least ahead of Chelsea in the race to secure Toney’s services, though.

According to journalist Ben Jacobs, speaking to GiveMeSport, “some within Chelsea like Toney, at the right price. But generally, the consensus is that Toney isn’t at the top of the list. There’s also a feeling that if Arsenal and Chelsea come in for Toney, he may prefer the move to Arsenal. He’s open to both offers and keen on staying in London, but if both projects came right now, Arsenal might turn Toney’s head more than Chelsea.”

Arsenal have plenty to weigh up with Ivan Toney move

Arteta is clearly keen to bolster his attacking options. Both Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah have come in for criticism at times this season.

In the case of Jesus, there is no denying that the Brazilian is exceptionally talented and improves the team when he is on the pitch. However, he is also injury prone and has a tendency to be wasteful in front of goal.

Equally, Nketiah can come in and do a job for the team, but is not of the elite standard required to the fire the Gunners to a Premier League title triumph.

Toney has shown that he can be prolific in the Premier League. The 27-year-old bagged twenty top flight goals last season. With his pace, physicality, and technical ability, he could be a real weapon for the north London club.

There are other options on the market, though. Club legend Sol Campbell recently admitted that he would prefer to see Arsenal sign Victor Osimhen, rather than Toney.

There is also Toney’s ban to contend with. He is currently serving a suspension for breaching gambling regulations. As such, the Brentford man has not kicked a ball in anger yet this season and is not due to return to action until January. It will surely take some time for him to get up and running again and back to his best.

Given they are hoping to mount a successful title challenge this time around, if Arsenal were to sign a striker in January, they would need him to be able to hit the ground running.