While Arsenal and Chelsea are preparing for a bidding war for striker Ivan Toney, his club had other ideas which are not in sync with the two London giants. Brentford striker will be free to return to playing in competitive matches on January 17th, when his eight-month suspension of illegal gambling runs out, and there was concrete evidence that both clubs will try to cut short his stay in Brentford and buy him this month already, but the Bees reportedly decided to stop the rumours and keep the player in this transfer window. June 2024, however, will be a different story. 🚨 Brentford have set a price of £100m for Ivan Toney to be sold this January, as Chelsea are looking into making sales in order to challenge Arsenal for his signature. 👀 (Source: Independent) pic.twitter.com/IsW72Z84NP— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) January 5, 2024 So, how are they going to do it? For one, coach Frank said so.”He is a Brentford player. He is here, we miss a few offensive players and I cannot see why we should sell him. I would love to have him here for a long time. It is not for me to discuss an offer, but if I could ever recommend one, it would need to be an unbelievable price, so he will stay here” said the Dane ahead of the FA Cup match with Wolverhampton. Arsenal could return for Vlahovic with a bag of money and a creative solution in additionSo, what would be that ‘unbelievable’ price? According to the Independent, Brentford made a second step in their plan to retain their best player until June: slap a 100 million pounds tag on the player. In normal circumstances, clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea would have no problem paying that much, but the month of January is, as we all know, very tricky for big deals, and one of the reasons for that is Financial Fair Play rules. For example, the Gunners spent close to 200 million pounds in June on Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber, while a loan deal for David Raya will turn into a permanent deal in June 2024, so the big deals this month are not realistic. Frank wants to keep Toney amid “big six” interest and claims: You can’t be a Bee if you’re rotten!The other club with that sort of money which needs a proper striker now are the Blues. But they also have their FFP worries. Chelsea have been told they’re likely to avoid any straightforward punishments for allegedly breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). It’s believed that clubs will learn within the next two weeks whether they’re likely to face any charges for breaching financial rules, with both Nottingham Forest and Everton said to be at risk. The only way for Chelsea to avoid any penalties is to sell home-grown players, as they bring the best revenue. The Blues spent around 350 million pounds on new players just last June. Likely candidates to be sold are Ian Maatsen, Trevoh Chalobah and Conor Gallagher, but it remains unclear whether they will have the possibility to give 100 million to Brentford in January, even if they sell those players. So it seems that the Bees have given themselves a bit of time with this price tag, at least until June 2024. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7781610##
