Brentford’s next major transfer sale: Ivan Toney

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Brentford are the masters of Moneyball although their current position of 11th in the EFL Championship doesn’t necessarily show it. The Bees narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League last season, losing to rivals Fulham in the playoff final.

The offseason saw turnover at Brentford with the club raking in a big-money transfer fee thanks to the sale of striker Ollie Watkins for £28 million. His sale to Aston Villa was met with skepticism by Premier League onlookers, but so far, Watkins has looked like the real deal.

Watkins’ £28m sale came just over 12 months after Brentford sold top-scorer Neal Maupay to Brighton for £20m. In back-to-back summer transfer windows, Brentford sold their top scorers and made a combined £48m.

Next summer, the Bees could rake in the cash once more after hitting upon another diamond in the rough overlooked by the Premier League. Former Newcastle United striker Ivan Toney has caught fire at Brentford, scoring 10 goals in hist first 11 games for the club.

Toney came out of nowhere, showing the EFL Championship club have the best recruitment team in football, and that Premier League teams missed out on an efficient goalscorer.

The 24-year-old joined Newcastle United in 2015, but after just a couple of months at the club, was loaned to Barnsley. The initial loan to Barnsley began a nomadic journey taking Toney to Shrewsbury Town, Scunthorpe United (twice), and Wigan Athletic.

Showing promise in the lower leagues, League One club Peterborough United took a punt on Toney, which proved to be the right move. Toney bagged 49 goals in 94 games for the Posh.

Brentford came calling to replace Watkins and thus far, look like geniuses after paying what could end up being £10m for Toney.

Toney averages a goal in the EFL Championship every 92.4 minutes and only one of his 10 goals has come from the spot. The Brentford man also averages 2.6 shots per 90 minutes and 1.7 shots on target per 90 minutes.

Toney is a regular fixture in opposing team’s 18-yard boxes, averaging 4.4 touches per 90 minutes in the penalty area. In addition, Toney’s awareness of space has been good with an average of just 0.4 offsides per 90 minutes.

Brentford look to have found another diamond in the rough, but they are not just signing players to sell as a successful business – which compared to other football clubs, especially EPL teams, the Bees are.

The club are seeking the right players to earn promotion to the Premier League. Selling Toney won’t be a setback, if he is moved on next summer. However, Brentford do have the opportunity already to cash-in on Said Benrahma.

The “Algerian Messi” was linked heavily with clubs during the transfer window, but no team bit on the proposed £25m to £30m transfer fee wanted by Brentford. West Ham did agree a loan for Benrahma for £5m and could pay a further £25m to sign him permanently in 2021.

The deal would most likely allow Brentford to hang onto Toney for a further season. With Brentford’s recruitment policy being so strong and profits being made through player sales, it is amazing that so many other clubs are not adopting the Bees’ model.

Will Toney be their next big transfer sale? If he keeps scoring goals, then there is no doubt Toney will go for big money too.