Arsenal and Chelsea transfer target Ivan Toney suggests Thomas Frank ‘doesn’t want me’ in cheeky interview
BRENTFORD striker Ivan Toney joked Thomas Frank “doesn’t want him” amid transfer speculation after the club’s 2-0 win over Wolves on Saturday.
The 27-year-old has been heavily linked with a move away from the Gtech Community Stadium in recent months.
Chelsea are understood to be interested in signing him, while Arsenal have also been linked with the £80million striker.
Earlier this week, Bees boss Frank admitted that Toney will “likely” be sold this summer.
He told Danish magazine Tipsbladet: “It’s quite obvious that Toney will most likely be sold in the summer.
“It can be expensive to sell your best player, but on the other hand, I also know that by the summer, he’ll only have a year left on his contract with us.
“We also know what he’s worth. I don’t think there are many strikers in the world who are better than him right now.”
Toney was asked about the manager’s comments after Brentford’s 2-0 win over Wolves.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he responded: “I see that as he doesn’t want me!
“The manager has said what he’s said but I can’t make clubs come and get me.
“I’ve just got to keep doing what I do and that’s score goals. What will be will be.”
Although Brentford did not receive any bids for Toney in January, club chiefs are expecting several offers when the summer window opens.
The Bees clinched a crucial win over Wolves on Saturday.
Christian Norgaard opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark before Toney scored his third Premier League goal in four games to seal the win.
After the match, Frank said: “I am very happy. I’m so pleased and proud of the players, and especially their defensive urgency; I really loved the mentality and the determination.
“We know, when we are on it, we are one of the good defensive sides in the league, and we have lacked that level of consistency or urgency or whatever in too many games – it feels like it’s been three years since we had a clean sheet!
“The clean-sheet mentality was a big focus today. We spoke about it during the week, in training and in meetings, and, I know it sounds simple, but I said, ‘clean sheet and we’ll win the game’, because we’ll always score goals.
“I’m happy with the way we defended as a team: our principles, but also the 50/50 duels, closing down one-on-one situations, running hard to get under the ball, and good blocks. I was so pleased with that side of the game.”