West Ham and Chelsea locked in transfer battle for EFL star | OneFootball

West Ham and Chelsea are both battling it out for Brentford star Ivan Toney during the summer transfer window with the Bees likely to sell him if they do not earn promotion, according to The Sun.

Toney has been a revelation in the Championship since he arrived at Brentford and fired them into the play-offs for a second successive term. He has already equalled the division’s highest ever goal tally in a single season with his 30 goals drawing him level with Glenn Murray’s efforts in the 2012/13 campaign. There will be a chance for him to make that record his own on the final day.

There has been plenty of speculation surrounding his future in recent weeks and months, and Thomas Frank has recently admitted that he could well have to be sold if the Bees do not go up. While there have been reports that Brentford are ready to demand a fee of around £35 million for him as they look to make a large profit on their star forward.

The Sun have now reported that both West Ham and Chelsea are battling for his signature in the summer, with the Hammers wanting him to provide competition for Michail Antonio. The report adds that Chelsea are assessing other targets ahead of the forward at this stage, but that there is interest if moves for those do not work out.

The verdict

Keeping hold of Toney for the Bees looks impossible if they do not win the play-offs, so in many ways, his future will be looking a lot clearer in the next few weeks. The forward is now attracting the interest of two sides at the top end of the Premier League with West Ham set for Europe after an excellent campaign and Chelsea ready to contest the Champions League final.

Both sides are very attractive propositions for him to consider in the summer and you would suggest it would be hard for him to turn down a move to either. It seems that West Ham look the most likely from this report given they are wanting to add competition upfront and have been keen on the striker for a while now according to reports.

However, if Chelsea do not bring in other targets and make an offer for Toney then the forward would have to consider making the move there given the amount of potential to win trophies he would have. It will be a huge summer for the forward and he has a lot of major decisions ahead of him.