Arsenal target Ivan Toney takes future into his own hands with intriguing hint after major Tottenham decision

Ivan Toney has suggested on social media he will be joining Arsenal next, with Tottenham Hotspur reportedly deciding against a move for the Brentford centre-forward.

Toney has not played this season after being found guilty of betting breaches in May, which resulted in an eight-month ban. He is due to return to competitive action on January 16, though it is far from guaranteed that he will be lining up for Brentford for the remainder of the season.

While the goalscorer has been out, the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea have all been battling to snap him up. Each of those three London sides are in need of a new striker and have resultantly looked intently into capturing Toney.

But Chelsea have decided they would rather sign Victor Osimhen from Napoli, leaving the hunt for Toney down to Arsenal and Spurs. And on Friday, it emerged that Spurs will not be meeting the £80million bid needed to agree a deal with Brentford, putting Arsenal in pole position.

And the Englishman has now taken his future into his own hands. On one of his Instagram posts, he has liked a comment which said, ‘Arsenal, do the right thing’. Toney’s response has seen been flagged up by SportBible and several X (formerly known as Twitter) users, getting Arsenal fans excited about a potential move.

This is not the first time Toney has urged Arsenal to sign him. During an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast, he said: “I’ve been a Liverpool fan my whole life but from young, I’ve liked Arsenal. I’ve liked watching Arsenal. I like how they play and kind of how passionate the fans are.”

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The Gunners are clearly at the front of the queue to strike an agreement for Toney’s signing. But Arsenal fans will be wondering where the £80m fee that is required is going to come from, following the big spending on Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber over the summer.

Former Aston Villa ace Gabby Agbonlahor recently suggested Arsenal offload the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah to help them both fund a deal for Toney and also bring his price down.

Arsenal urged to make big Ivan Toney play

“If I am Arsenal now, behind the scenes, I would be doing everything I can regarding Financial Fair Play to make it [the Toney signing] happen,” the pundit said earlier this week.

“What can we do? Can we sell Smith Rowe maybe? Can we sacrifice someone and get £35-£40m for Smith Rowe?”

Fellow pundit Darren Bent then asked if Arsenal should offload Nketiah as well, to give them an even better chance at signing Toney. Agbonlahor replied: “Yeah, 100 per cent. If you could [use] Eddie Nketiah and say to Brentford, ‘here you go’. Here’s £15-20m for Ivan Toney, or maybe £30m. 100 per cent.”

Meanwhile, transfer insider Dean Jones has provided TEAMtalk with an exclusive look at Arsenal’s January plans, with four big transfers being considered.