Ivan Toney has made it clear that he will only move to Saudi Arabia if he is given astronomical wages.
Toney was left out of Brentford’s squad to play Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday and Thomas Frank wants his future resolved. The England striker has been linked with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, but Brentford have so far only received one official offer, from Al-Ahli.
The Bees reportedly rejected the opening bid of £35million plus add-ons for Toney and are sticking to their £50m valuation. That is despite Toney being in the final year of his contract and being desperate to leave west London before the summer transfer window closes on August 31.
While Arsenal have been put off by Brentford’s valuation, United and Chelsea are understood to be biding their time in the hope a better deal emerges. Currently, however, a move to the Saudi Pro League is the only option open to Toney.
The 28-year-old is considering the possibility and talkSPORT says he wants a yearly salary worth €20m (£17m) as well as bonuses and accommodation allowance were he to agree to join Al-Ahli. The Saudi club were willing to pay £50m to land Richarlison, only for the Tottenham striker to reject the move, so they clearly have the funds available.
Al-Ahli already have Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez, Edouard Mendy and Franck Kessie among their ranks, but were only able to finish third in the Saudi Pro League last season, well behind unbeaten champions Al-Hilal and Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr.
While Toney may be tempted to hold out and wait for other interested parties, Brentford manager Frank is keen to get a deal done. “A lot of things are going on with Ivan, especially with transfers, there’s a lot of transfer interest. Because of all that, we’ve decided not to include him in the squad,” Frank told Sky Sports before the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
“I can’t give too much away the day before. Of course Ivan is a top player, we all know that. He has been fantastic for us for four years but we showed last season we can cope without him.”
Later he added: “There was no problem. Ivan always wants to play. He has been one of our best players over a long period of time. We saw last year that like with any good player, one day they will leave the club and someone else needs to step up and do well. Every time Ivan hasn’t played then [Yoane] Wissa has stepped up and he did that again today.”
Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo scored in the win over Palace and Brentford can also call upon Kevin Schade up front. Nevertheless, Toney’s departure would be a significant one, with the striker having contributed 72 goals and 23 assists in 141 games for the club over the past four years.