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Football journalist, Simon Johnson has revealed he has it on good authority that Chelsea are working on the signing of Ivan Toney in January.

The Blues have been linked with the 27-year-old, as their search for a potent striker continues.

Toney is currently serving an eight-month match ban after violating betting rules, but is due back in January.

The Englishman scored 20 goals for Brentford last season, and the Bees have already left the door open for a potential transfer.

Johnson claims that Chelsea have already done some ground work towards signing Toney, similar to what they did for Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, and that should make things easier for the club  in the end.

He said on Substack: “On Toney, my top source says that we have done similar groundwork on signing him as we did with Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, which was actually the thing that tilted those deals in the end, the fact that they both were so keen on coming to Chelsea.

“Interestingly though, their director did firmly leave the door open for a January move with some comments yesterday. Personally I still have a gut feeling that we push for him in January, but let’s see.”