Ratcliffe sets maximum size of Man Utd bid for Ten Hag striker target in boost to Arsenal, Chelsea

Manchester United have decided the maximum amount of money they are willing to pay for Brentford striker Ivan Toney, according to a report.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank recently admitted it is likely that Toney will be sold in the summer, when he will be entering the final year of his contract with his current club.

In turn, a number of usually higher-ranking Premier League opponents are queuing up for his signature.

Recently, Man Utd were revealed as genuine admirers of the England international.

Erik ten Hag wants to sign a more reliable striker than Rasmus Hojlund, who is still developing after his summer arrival from Atalanta, and has identified Toney as someone who could meet Man Utd’s needs.

According to the Daily Mirror, though, Sir Jim Ratcliffe will not sanction a bid any higher than £70m for the former Peterborough United frontman.

Man Utd have overpaid for various players in recent years only to be let down by their output. Incoming investor Ratcliffe wants to avoid repeats of those errors.

The problem is that Brentford’s asking price for Toney could be closer to £100m, a whole £30m higher than Man Utd are willing to go.

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With Arsenal and Chelsea also keen on Toney, Man Utd are unwilling to be drawn into a bidding war, by which they may end up paying an inflated price.

Other sources have suggested Brentford might only ask for £80m, which would be less of a gap from Man Utd’s valuation of their target, but a gap nonetheless.

Man Utd looking at other targets

And with that in mind, the Mirror concludes that Man Utd are ‘ready to pursue other forward targets’.

Only time will tell exactly who those might be, but another suggestion in the European papers today has been Jonathan David from Lille.

Those reports suggested a price tag closer to £50m for David, who also has the benefit of being younger than Toney and therefore having greater margin for development.

However, the Canada international does not have any Premier League experience – which was also the case for Hojlund – so Man Utd will have to weigh up their options with careful consideration.

The thing is, neither Toney nor David are, for different reasons, having seasons that would be the best to judge them by.

Toney was banned until January so has only just been getting back up to speed, while David had a goal drought in Ligue 1 over the autumn months but has since been returning to form.

It will be interesting to see how both of them get on for the rest of the season, then, as they aim to produce more consistency in an effort to prove their true levels.

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