Mikel Arteta has been urged to replace Alexandre Lacazette with Brentford striker Ivan Toney this summer to complete his Arsenal revitalisation project.
The Spaniard spent £150million last summer on six new signings, with Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares all arriving through the Emirates doors.
But the Gunners boss saw his attempts to land a new striker in January end in failure after missing out on Dusan Vlahovic to Juventus, and being priced out of a move for Real Sociedad’s Alexander Isak.
Lacazette is out of contract in June and there are no clear signs of a renewal on the horizon for the Frenchman, who arrived from Lyon in a £52m deal in 2017.
His likely departure could force Arteta to return with another bid for Isak in the summer, especially if Arsenal manage to secure Champions League football for next season.
But former Stoke and Tottenham forward Garth Crooks, now a pundit, believes the north London outfit should consider Toney instead due to his seamless adaptation to Premier League football.
“I caused a bit of a stir on Final Score and my colleagues Dion Dublin and Jason Mohammed raised eyebrows when I suggested that Ivan Toney would make a good fit for Arsenal next season,” he wrote in his BBC Sport column.
“I think they were slightly taken aback because they thought I might know something or have an inside track but my comments were purely speculative.
“After all Ollie Watkins, a former Brentford striker, has made the transition at Aston Villa.
“Toney would be an ideal replacement if Alexandre Lacazette, for example, were to leave the Gunners in the summer.
“Unlike Watkins when he transferred to Villa, Toney is already scoring goals in the Premier league and plenty of them – he has no transition to make.
“As for Brentford, if Arsenal do come knocking, the west London club may have no choice but to accept the money. Brentford have a habit of selling when a player is hot.”
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Toney was the top goalscorer in the Championship last season in helping the Bees secure the first promotion to the top flight, scoring 33 goals in total.
The 25-year-old has made a steady start to life in the top flight with 11 goals and two assists in 24 appearances, catching the eye of bigger Premier League clubs..
If Toney did make the move across the capital from the west side to the north, he may want to clarify his comments on the club after claiming they won’t win a trophy “anytime soon” following Brentford’s 2-0 victory on the opening day of the season.
“They weren’t as crazy as I thought [they would be],” he said.
“I don’t know if it was [whether] they weren’t so good or we were just excited as it was our first game and it was Arsenal and Premier League [and] all these things coming into the picture.
“I just didn’t see them how they used to be. You used to look at Arsenal and think [they were] crazy and they were going to win this game, win this game.
“These days, I don’t see them winning nothing any time soon.”
