Brentford head coach Thomas Frank is hoping to keep Ivan Toney amid interest from Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Toney was one of the standout strikers in the Premier League last season as he scored 20 goals in 33 appearances.
The England international is yet to feature for the Bees this term as he is serving a nine-month ban for betting offences.
The forward is set to make his return in January but he may have already played his last game for Brentford. Arsenal and Chelsea have been heavily linked with him in recent months but Man Utd have now reportedly joined the race to sign the £80m-rated attacker.
Back in September, Frank suggested that Brentford would be willing to sell Toney for the “right price” in January.
“So far we’ve only sold one in the Premier League, that was David Raya – or that’s a loan but probably will be a sale in the future, I guess,” Frank said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
“I think every club in the world are a selling club except five or six clubs. We are a selling club, if the right price is there.
“I think if it’s the right time for the player to go, from my perspective that’s not my decision that would be Phil [Giles, director of football] or Matthew [Benham, Brentford’s owner] in the end, then I think if they have developed well with us, been on the journey, and now they’re proven good enough to go to the top clubs, then I think it’s the right thing, if it’s the right price.”
Now Frank is adamant that he “doesn’t want to lose” Toney.
“Everyone saw what he did last year. It’s not like he broke a leg or did his ACL, so he’s fit and probably even more ambitious to get success. I’m convinced he will be absolutely on it,” Frank said in an interview with The Standard.
“I don’t want to lose him. I hope, and think, he’ll be a Brentford player on February 1.”
Frank has been linked with a move away from Brentford himself and he has admitted that he has turned down offers because he cannot see a club who “do everything better” than the Bees.
“Yeah, I have”, Frank added when asked if he has received offers from other clubs. “But I doubt I’ll find a club that does everything better than Brentford. I’ve got a good daily life, which is important. What will happen in the future, I don’t know. I’m very ambitious — that could be here, that could be somewhere else.
“If it turns out that I one day move, it’s because I felt that was the right decision. But there’s too much I want to improve here.”
