Thomas Frank has revealed that Ivan Toney was left out of Brentfordâs squad to face Crystal Palace on Sunday because âthere is a lot of transfer interestâ in the England striker.
Toney has entered the final year of his contract and made no secret of his desire to leave Brentford, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli all linked with a move. While Frank admitted that a move is ânot closeâ, he opted to leave Toney out of his squad for the teamâs opening match of the Premier League season.
âA lot of things are going on with Ivan, especially with transfers â thereâs a lot of transfer interest. Because of all that, weâve decided not to include him in the squad,â the Brentford manager told Sky Sports before kick-off.
âI canât give too much away the day before,â the Brentford manager added. âOf course Ivan is a top player, we all know that. He has been fantastic for us for four years, but we showed last season we can cope without him.â
Asked if Toney â who featured as a substitute in Brentfordâs final preseason game against Wolfsburg last week â had played his last match for Brentford, he added: âWho knows. There is interest, itâs not close.â
Marc Guéhi, the Crystal Palace captain, was selected to start Sundayâs game by manager Oliver Glasner despite continued interest in him from Newcastle.
Palace are understood to have rejected the Magpiesâ latest bid, worth up to £65m, but chairman Steve Parish admitted he has held talks with Newcastleâs sporting director, Paul Mitchell, and that other clubs had also shown an interest in the England centre-back.
âWeâre always very respectful when we get a bid for a player,â Parish told TalkSport. âWeâre very respectful of Newcastle United and Paul Mitchell is somebody I have an incredible amount of time for. Iâve known him for a long time, heâs been very, very good to me in football and we have a good relationship. So, he and I have had a chat about this.â
âInevitably, the agents are involved and have got a point of view, theyâre decent guys. Weâve had conversations with other clubs that have expressed interest [in Guéhi] as well.â
Parish also said that Palace could end their interest in re-signing Wilfried Zaha, with issues over tax set to scupper a loan move from Galatasaray. âIâd have Wilf Zaha back in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, it doesnât look like itâll be possible this summer,â he added.