Man United transfer target turns Erik ten Hag’s side into Premier League title challengers, says chairman

Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony believes that Ivan Toney could be the striker that Manchester United need to challenge for the Premier League.

It is no secret that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS are looking to improve multiple positions in their first transfer window as co-owners of Manchester United with one of these being another striker to ease the reliance on Rasmus Højlund.

The 21-year-old has had to bear the responsibility of being United’s main centre forward with little respite as Anthony Martial has been sidelined for extended period with injuries and Marcus Rashford seems ineffective in the middle, only finding joy out on the wing.

This has led the Red Devils to cast their net high and wide in a search for their next goalscorer as sources have reported that the club have been keeping tabs on talent in the Premier League and across Europe which includes Brighton’s Evan Ferguson and Real Madrid’s Joselu.

One name that many of the “big six” are keeping an eye on is Brentford’s Ivan Toney. Erik ten Hag’s men knows what the Englishman is capable of having provided the assist for The Bees late equaliser and only being denied by the post to score for himself in the two sides’ recent clash in the league.

Before joining the London club Toney made a name for himself in League One at Peterborough United. Darragh MacAnthony, the chairman of The Posh, is full of praise for his former goal-getter and believes that Man United should sign him if they want to be serious title contenders.

“He turns Man United into a challenger for the Premier League”, MacAnthony told Sky Sports. “I think everything about him has a character, as a player, I think whoever buys him will be £100 million would be well spent, because if you’re getting a player who’s coming into his prime you’re going to get 5-6 years of his best.”

The League One charmain continues, “having done this for 18 years, scouted and scouted players not just for their technical ability but their personality and the growth that in them in a certain age, I don’t think he’s not even in his prime, even though he’s turning 28 cause of the type of striker that he is, where he’s not your run in behind, he’s a bit of everything.

“I think when he’s scored a goal every other in the Premier League game for Brentford, God bless Brentford what they’ve done, but you put him in a team in the top five or six with the chances…

“Put him in an Arsenal team, in a Liverpool or Man United team he scores 30 Premier League goals in his sleep in a season. And I think anyone that disagrees with that hasn’t been watching in the last two and a half years”

United have seriously struggled in front of the net this season so a clinical and experienced forward like Toney is something that the club is crying out for but understandably Brentford are not eager to let their star man go hence the £100 million price tag.

Skirting dangerously close to Financial Fairplay, United and Sir Jim Ratcliffe will probably be discouraged by this price and look elsewhere in the market for a cheaper but hopefully as effective alternative.