Arsenal hero Ray Parlour thinks Arsenal need to sign a new striker and has urged Mikel Arteta to bring in Brenford’s Ivan Toney.
Toney has scored an impressive 20 goals in the Premier League this season with the Bees in contention for European qualification going into the final day of the season.
The campaign has ended on a very sour note for the England striker, who has been handed an eight-month suspension for breaking the Football Association’s betting rules.
This has all but ruled out a summer exit, but former Arsenal midfielder Parlour still thinks Arteta should try to sign him with the addition of a new No. 9 ‘vitally’ important.
“I also think a new centre-forward is vital for Arsenal next season, I really do,” Parlour told NetBet. “A player who I’ve always said would do well at Arsenal is Ivan Toney.
“Whether Arsenal can get him given his ban is another matter, but I would be trying really hard to see if there was any chance of a deal there [whether that means joining in January].
“He’s really impressed me for Brentford – his work rate and he’s always in the right place to nick a goal.”
Toney probably would have been in contention for a move to one of the so-called big six in the summer if he was not banned from all football-related activities until January 2024.
have never really been strongly linked with him, but the 27-year-old is a fantastic all-round striker who would walk into nearly every team in the Premier League.
A striker the Gunners have been linked with over the last year or so is Inter’s Lautaro Martinez, who Parlour thinks would be “perfect” in Arteta’s side.
Martinez has scored 25 goals and provided 10 assists in 53 matches across all competitions this term and has helped the Nerazzurri reach the final of the Champions League.
Football Insider recently reported that Martinez ‘wants to move to the Premier League’ .
“Bringing in Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan would also be perfect, he’s the sort of striker Arsenal need to sign,” he added.
“I know Gabriel Jesus has been excellent this season, he had that long spell out injured, but he needs to score a few more goals for Arsenal.
“Eddie Nketiah has done well when he’s been asked, but you need that competition up front for places.
“We played with four top strikers in the Invincibles team – Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Kanu and Sylvain Wiltord. We even had Francis Jeffers a little before that, so we had five strikers! So Arsenal definitely need another striker.
“Any player in the mould of Lautaro Martinez, if he’s interested in coming to Arsenal, then Edu will be working to do the best deal for the club.”
Chelsea make up half the top 18 of this ranking of 110 Premier League players based on how annoyed they should be to have not even made the opening bench.
According to reports, Chelsea are ‘still monitoring’ Napoli forward Victor Osimhen as his move to Stamford Bridge is deemed a ‘possibility’.
A report claims Arsenal have made a ‘signing U-turn’, while Gary Lineker has urged the Premier League giants to sign Ivan Toney from Brentford.
Thomas Frank’s Brentford did better without Ivan Toney last season than with him, and started the season with a win after leaving him out v Crystal Palace.
Ivan Toney was left out by Brentford and Crystal Palace selected fellow transfer target Marc Guehi but the Bees opened their season with all three points.
Ivan Toney has been left out of the Brentford squad for Sunday’s clash with Crystal Palace due to “a lot of transfer interest”.
© Planet Sport Limited 2024 • All Rights Reserved