Chelsea transfers: Toney agrees ‘mouthwatering’ contract offer as Brentford ‘accept’ £36m bid

Ivan Toney is expected to join Saudi Arabian side Al Ahli after agreeing a three-year contract worth around £50million, according to a report.

If Toney does stay at Brentford, he will not be playing against Southampton this weekend.

“I can say that Ivan will not play on Saturday,” Bees head coach Thomas Frank at his pre-match press conference.

“I can say I’m very happy to speak about the players who played last night (against Colchester) or the players who will play tomorrow.

“Ivan is training well, and in good spirits, and I’m happy to (answer) more questions about Ivan the next time we are sitting here.”

The England international has been eyeing a move away from Brentford all summer but a move has failed to come to fruition.

Manchester United looked elsewhere, signing Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna, while Arsenal have decided against bringing in a new No. 9.

Rumours of a move to Chelsea have been quiet for the large part but ramped up this week, with the Blues reportedly looking at Toney as an alternative to Napoli’s Victor Osimhen .

With a transfer to a Premier League giant deemed unlikely, Toney could be off to Saudi Arabia.

Chelsea target Toney expected to make Saudi switch

According to Times Sport ( via @DeadlineDayLive ), Toney is ‘likely to join Al Ahli’ with Brentford seeking ‘around £50million’ for their star striker.

The transfer news account wrote on X: ‘Ivan Toney is likely to join Al-Ahli after agreeing to a three-year deal worth around £50m! Brentford are asking for a fee of around £50m.’

It was later revealed by journalist Loic Tanzi that Brentford have accepted a bid worth £36m for Toney.

Tanzi wrote on X: ‘Brentford accepted a €42M offer this morning for Ivan Toney from Al Ahli!’

A move to Chelsea makes sense for everyone involved but the Londoners don’t seem to know what they want with Osimhen also being linked with the Saudi Pro League outfit.

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Enzo Maresca clearly needs a new striker – Chelsea have been crying out for one for bloody ages after all – and former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher says he really wants Toney and Osimhen to be Premier League players this season.

“There’s no doubt Chelsea need a striker,” he said. “We’ve said that before, we’ve seen Nicolas Jackson come into the club and it hasn’t worked out. Romelu Lukaku has reunited with Conte again at Napoli.

“Victor Osimhen has been a player linked to a lot of Premier League clubs and I’m just delighted it looks like he’s coming to the Premier League, as it looked like the other option was Saudi and he’s too high quality of a player to do that at his age.

“Hopefully we can get to see him in the Premier League.

“I’d say the same with Ivan Toney – I want to keep him in the Premier League. He’s got a situation where he could go to Saudi.

“The revenue for the players is mouthwatering so I can understand why he’d want to go to Saudi, but fingers crossed Toney and Osimhen are in the Premier League come 12 o’clock tonight.”

It looks like Osimhen is Chelsea’s top target at this moment in time and could turn to Toney, Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran, or Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin if a deal fails to materialise on deadline day.

Meanwhile, BBC Sport’s chief football news reporter Simon Stone said rumours of Toney joining Al Ahly is “fascinating” with his England prospects likely to be hanging by a thread should he move.

“With Ivan Toney the interesting thing for him is that he was part of the England squad at the Euros and didn’t play as much as he would have liked,” Stone said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He was not in the [England] squad yesterday, but that is presumably a part of the legacy that he’s not played for Brentford.

“He has to work out whether, in the prime of his career, he wants to go to Saudi Arabia, which would maybe take him out of England picture at a time when there’s a new coach wanting to put his own stamp on things, or whether he stays in the Premier League. If so, does he stay at Brentford and would Brentford want him to stay as well?

“It is fascinating. He is one of a number of players we don’t know what is going to happen with.”

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