Manchester United have Brentford striker Ivan Toney on their transfer radar ahead of the summer window, which will be the first opportunity that the club’s new sporting structure has had to start putting its own stamp on the squad.
United have lacked depth up front this season, often with Rasmus Hojlund the only ‘number nine’ available to manager Erik ten Hag. The Dane has done an admirable job in the circumstances, initially arriving injured and with the pressure of a £72m price tag on his shoulders.
Anthony Martial has endured another injury-plagued campaign and looks set to leave Old Trafford after nine years at the club when his contract expires in June.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s ultimate goal is restore United to competing for every major trophy each season. But United have been outscored by Brentford, Bournemouth and Fulham in the Premier League this season and bringing the glory days back won’t happen without substantially more firepower.
The question is whether or not Toney is the answer?
Toney hasn’t exactly hidden his desire to take his career to the next level.
“You can never predict when is the right time to move elsewhere, but I think it’s obvious I want to play for a top club. Everybody wants to play for a top club, that is fighting for titles,” he said in January, a time when both Arsenal and Chelsea were most heavily linked.
The 28-year-old has had to work extremely hard to put himself into a position where clubs like United are interested. He wasn’t the product of a shiny Premier League academy, coming through the ranks at local lower league side Northampton Town. He made his debut there aged 16 in 2012 and was picked up by Newcastle United less than three years later after impressing in League Two.
Ultimately, Toney’s Newcastle career was spent on loan at a string of League One sides without ever fully catching fire. That all changed when he was able to permanently join Peterborough United in the third tier in 2018, scoring 49 times in two seasons across all competitions.
Brentford saw fit to sign him in 2020 and were rewarded with 31 league goals straight off the bat that propelled them into the Premier League. Making his first top flight start aged 25, Toney hasn’t looked back. He has put in the hard yards, making every bit of success he tastes now that bit sweeter. Now, at 28, there isn’t the time to get a second bite of the cherry if the big move he’s waited for all these years doesn’t go to plan. The motivation to succeed is through the roof.
Goals at any level are impressive. But for a player developed in the EFL, Toney is now proven in the Premier League too. How often do strikers who thrived in the Championship struggle to make a smooth step up? It happens a lot and for Toney, it didn’t.
His 12 league goals when Brentford were newly promoted was a strong start for player whose previous top flight experience extended to ten minutes across two substitute appearances when he was still a teenager. Those strikes were also attributable to crucial points that ensured the Bees survived comfortable in a mid-table position, with goals directly resulting in five Brentford wins.
A 20-goal season is the mark of a top quality Premier League striker and Toney achieved that in 2022/23. He outscored Mohamed Salah and was responsible for over a third of Brentford’s output.
United even have first-hand experience of how much can impact games, with two Toney assists coming in the humiliating 4-0 defeat at the Gtech Community Stadium in 2022. He also set up Brentford’s equaliser in the recent 1-1 draw between the sides.
90min understands that United are attracted by the experience that Toney could bring to the dressing room. Both Casemiro and Raphael Varane have been linked with summer exits that could result in significant knowhow departing the club, creating a void that needs to be filled.
Although it has been visible at times, no more so than against Liverpool in the FA Cup, United have been criticised for lacking sufficient mental strength, perceived to allow heads to drop.
Toney carries a different type of experience to big name superstars, but he is gritty and would complement the likes of Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Amad Diallo.
Hand in hand with experience is leadership. Toney has seen plenty over the years and even began wearing the captain’s armband for Brentford on occasion last season and continuing to do so in 2023/24. United haven’t had enough leadership on the pitch in recent years and it has shown.
Any move has to fit in with United’s budget and Toney could be available for around the £50m mark. That is way less than the lofty £100m valuation that was being thrown around by Brentford boss Thomas Frank earlier this season, as well as the kind of price tags being talked about for the likes of Victor Osimhen, and Harry Kane prior to his 2023 transfer to Bayern Munich.
United have already gone big on Hojlund, so it gives a marker as to how much they should spend on someone like Toney, who would be intended to complement the Dane, but overall won’t offer the same level of long-term return due to his age.
If United spent money on Toney and could also land someone like Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting as a free agent, they might just nail the ‘number nine’ position for next season.
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