Ivan Toney Next Club Odds: After Al Ahli

Chelsea are amongst the clubs in England that are crying out for attacking reinforcements, and Toney could tick a couple of boxes for the Blues.

For starters, they’ve lacked striker depth this season with Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Maresca’s first choice, suffering with injury and Christopher Nkunku clearly not all that fancied. Having Toney in their squad would go some way to addressing those challenges.

The other layer Toney would assist Chelsea with is experience. A lack of experience has been a stick people have beaten the Blues with as they struggle to consistently deliver the performances their talent alone suggests they could.

With Toney’s preferred city being London and Chelsea unlikely to bat an eyelid at any wage demands, this deal could quickly develop.

If you offered Man United fans a choice between Rasmus Hojlund, Joshua Zirkzee, and Ivan Toney, the standout winner would be the former Brentford man. That in itself tells you why you shouldn’t dismiss the idea of the Red Devils making a move for him.

There are 101 problems at Old Trafford for Ruben Amorim to fix, and centre forward is arguably the number one priority on that list. The challenge with that, though, is that they don’t have the financial clout – or the recent history – to go all out for the elite tier of player anymore, which realistically rules them out of the conversation for strikers like Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres.

It’s important to remember that the likelihood is that United need to bring in more than just one striker too, which means they’ll have to juggle how they do that.

With Toney proven in the Premier League, an improvement on their current squad and likely available without having to break the bank, a move for him ticks a lot of boxes.

Ivan Toney was heavily linked with a move to Tottenham last summer before his move to Al Ahli and it’s believed Spurs could still be interested in bringing the England international in this summer. One of the reasons Tottenham dithered over putting a concrete offer on the table for Toney last season was their pursuit of Dominic Solanke.

Solanke, two years Toney’s junior, didn’t come cheap, but if this season has proved one thing it’s that Tottenham need a deeper squad to compete in the Premier League, both in respect of injuries and general rotation.

Although any deal to bring Toney in now is unlikely to command a huge transfer fee, his wage expectations will likely be sizeable given the contract he’s on in Saudi. Will Daniel Levy and co be willing to sanction such a salary? We’re not sure.

It’s not quite the top tier of European football but could a move to Turkey be a middle ground for Toney?

He’d be able to command a decent wage at a better standard of football, be much closer to home and would be able to showcase his talents through European competition as well. From the player angle, it probably wouldn’t be a disastrous move.

From a club angle, you’d expect Toney to score a bucket load of goals in the Turkish Super Lig and with Edin Dzeko 39-years-old Fenerbahce are crying out for another big hitter. Jose Mourinho will like him stylistically too.

This option won’t be anywhere close to the top of Toney’s preferred destinations but with Turkish clubs having an extra couple of weeks of window in which to trade, should Toney be stranded in Saudi when the main European window slams shut this could become a real contender.