West Ham eye summer move for Championship top scorer Toney – report
West Ham are interested in signing Brentford striker Ivan Toney in the summer transfer window, according to EuroSport.
The Englishman, 24, joined the Bees in August 2020 for an initial fee in the region of £5million and that could rise as high as £10million. He’s currently the top scorer in the Championship this season, with 22 goals and seven assists in 27 games.
The Hammers are understood to be looking at Toney as a potential replacement for the record signing flop, Sebastian Haller. He departed the London Stadium in January for Dutch champions Ajax.
After being sold by Newcastle in 2018, Toney had two prolific seasons in League One with Peterborough United. He scored 49 goals in 94 games for the Posh and was brought to Brentford to replace Ollie Watkins in the summer.
Just what we need
It’s no secret that we’re lacking in the striker department. Whilst Michail Antonio has obvious quality, we’re finding (again) that he can’t be solely relied on to lead the line.
Andriy Yarmolenko was never going to be able to fill his boots, even before he suffered an injury last night at Old Trafford. And Mipo Odubeko’s run-out didn’t exactly set the world alight.
Toney would be a fantastic signing to bolster our striking options, should we be able to pull the deal off. He’s a big, powerful player and a very good finisher. He certainly would suit the Moyes system more than Haller did, which demands a high work rate from the frontman.
His seven assists this season prove he is more than just a goalscorer too. No one in the Championship has more goal involvements than him.
Having been let go by Newcastle after just one substitute Premier League appearance, you’d imagine Toney feels he has a point to prove and would relish the challenge.
However, having just joined last summer, it’s hard to see Brentford willingly let him move on. Especially given the way we went about signing Benrahma.
Tensions seem to have eased with the loan deal agreed for Winston Reid, so don’t rule it out altogether. It would be a great addition to the squad, and ease the demands placed on Antonio’s shoulders.
In other West Ham news, Craig Dawson performed very well against Manchester United.