Ivan Toney transfer takes new twist as Thomas Frank gives update after Brentford omission

Ivan Toney has been left out of Brentford's squad for their Premier League opener against Crystal Palace as head coach Thomas Frank provided an update on his future.

Instead of using Toney up front, Brentford opted for a front three of Bryan Mbuemo, Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa, who has also been linked with a move away amid interest from Wolves.

The 28-year-old has been heavily linked with a move away from the west London club with Arsenal and Manchester United believed to be monitoring his situation.

Toney has also reportedly held talks over a lucrative switch to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli and, with speculation persisting that he could leave the Bees this summer, Frank opted to omit him from the squad.

"A lot of things are going on with Ivan. There is some transfer interest and so we decided not to involve him in the squad," Frank told Sky Sports before the match. "I can't give too much away... there is interest, but a deal is not closed.

"Ivan is a top player; he's been fantastic for us over four years but we also showed, last year especially, that we can win without him."

Brentford had originally placed an £80million valuation above Toney's head last summer before the striker was banned for eight months by the Football Association for breaches of betting regulations. That price remained in place in January, but with his contract due to expire in June 2025, they have been forced to slash it to £50m, which has brought Arsenal and United into the equation.

Arsenal have been tipped to sign a target man this summer with the likes of Victor Osimhen and Viktor Gyokeres linked with the Gunners, although much could depend on Eddie Nketiah's future.

United boss Erik ten Hag has already brought in one striker this summer, with £42m signing Joshua Zirkzee scoring on his debut. However, an injury to Rasmus Hojlund has forced the Dutchman to consider potentially bringing in another centre forward to add to his squad.

Toney has found the net 36 times in 83 games since Brentford won promotion to the Premier League in 2021. Despite managing just four goals in 17 outings last year, he was included in England's Euro 2024 squad and made three substitute appearances.

It remains to be seen which club has made a concrete approach for Toney, which led to him to being left out of the squad. According to Ben Jacobs, the former Newcastle trainee is looking for a lucrative salary to convince him to move to the Saudi Pro League, where he would join the likes of Karim Benzema, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Toney's demands for a £17.1m annual wage (€20m) may not be too high to scare off his Saudi admirers, but it seems unlikely that Arsenal or United would break their wage budget to hand him such a salary package.