Premier League giants Arsenal are reportedly ready to step up interest in Brentford striker Ivan Toney – three years on from when Rangers talks collapsed.
The England international striker, 27, has returned to training after serving half of his eight-and-a-half month ban for betting offences.
According to the Mirror, Mikel Arteta and Arsenal are ready to plunge for the striker in January with Brentford holding out for £60m for the striker.
This would be six times the £10m deal struck by Brentford to bring Ivan Toney to the Brentford Community Stadium back in 2020.
The ex-Newcastle United striker talent was making a name for himself in League One with Peterborough United and the move proved a shrewd one from the Bees.
Ivan Toney hit 31 Championship goals to fire Brentford to the Premier League and its his form in the English top flight which reportedly has Arsenal interested.
Prior to his ban for betting offences in May, the striker netted 12 in his first season in the Premier League before adding 20 in the last campaign and being capped for England in March.
Arsenal-linked Ivan Toney held Rangers talks
Rangers fans will remember links to Ivan Toney back in 2020 with both the Ibrox club and Old Firm rivals Celtic mentioned as potential suitors.
And whilst many though the striker was actually closer to Parkhead than Ibrox, now Arsenal-linked Ivan Toney claimed he held talks with Rangers over a move.
Then managed by Steven Gerrard, Toney claims he visited Ibrox but given the competition at the top end of the park wasn’t convinced that he’d get the necessary minutes to progress.
“I did speak to other clubs [before moving to Brentford],” Toney told popular podcast Diary of a CEO.
“I actually went up to Rangers. I spoke with the manager there, which was Steven Gerrard at the time.
“They had two strikers at the time and they were looking to get another one in, so that would have been like four strikers and the formation they played, the majority of the time, was one striker up top.”
It’s a move that Rangers will likely now regret with Ivan Toney going on to better and bigger things and only Kemar Roofe left of the four strikers in the squad that summer.
Alfredo Morelos is now at Santos, Cedric Itten is finding form with Young Boys and Jermain Defoe has retired from playing football.
