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Manchester United have received a massive boost in their pursuit of Ivan Toney as major competitors, Chelsea and Arsenal have reportedly cooled their interest in the Englishman.
The Red Devils are in dire need of attacking depth.
They have struggled all season in front of goal and youngster Rasmus Hojlund has rather unfairly been tasked with shouldering most of the attacking burden.
The 21 year old has had mixed success with a purple patch in the Champions League and a strong run of form in January and February in the league, mixed in with goal and shot droughts.
However, Marcus Rashford’s lack of form and Anthony Martial’s predictable lack of fitness has meant United have been light all season up front and this led Erik ten Hag to admit in his pre-match press conference against Bournemouth that the club was targeting a proven goal scorer in the summer.
This has seen the club linked to players like Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen and Benjamin Sesko.
However, one interesting name to emerge as of late, is that of Ivan Toney.
The 28 year old has been increasingly connected to the Old Trafford side and reliable journalist, Fabrizio Romano, claimed that the Red Devils were certainly looking at the England international as an option for the summer.
It has also been reported lately that Brentford have slashed their price for the striker, with £30-40m possibly being enough to get a deal done, instead of previous figure thought to be around £60-80m.
And following this trend of good news for United, The Mirror reports that Ten Hag’s men may just have a clearer run at the forward should they decide to firm up their interest this summer.
The outlet reports that “Manchester United have emerged as potential dark horses in the race to sign Ivan Toney”.
“The England international is due to enter the final 12 months of his Brentford contract this summer and therefore could be available for a cut-price between £40 million and £50m”.
“Arsenal are understood to have cooled their interest as they continue to monitor Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko while Chelsea are thought to be prioritising alternative striker targets”.
Whilst “Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS are thought to favour signing young players with high potential moving forward, however, Toney’s experience and availability makes him an undeniably attractive option”.
Moreover, with United already basing their attack around the 19 year old Alejandro Garnacho and 21 year old Hojlund, perhaps a bit of know-how and experience would be beneficial for the United attack.
The striker is certainly a proven scorer, having banged in 20 goals last season in the Premier League for the Bees.
Were his price to really be around the £40m mark and the club had a much freer run at the player than first thought, it may just be a deal worth doing for INEOS.
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