‘He is in the top five best strikers in the world’ – Club chief warns Chelsea they must pay a huge fee to sign this striker. Not Osimhen

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Brentford chief, Lee Dykes has showered praise on striker, Ivan Toney ahead of his January return, describing the England international as one of the best in the world.

Toney is currently serving an eight-month match ban for violating betting rules in the Premier League, but the 27-year-old should be available to play for Thomas Frank’s side in about a month from now.

Toney has however, also been linked with a transfer to another club in January, with Chelsea and Arsenal currently said to be leading the race to sign him, but Brentford Technical director, Dykes insists he won’t be sold on a cheap.

Dykes told the Brentford website: “I am so excited for Ivan to come back because I see him out there in training and he is some player; it looks like he’s never been away.

“There’s a real ambition from him and I can see in his eyes that he’s going to be better than he’s ever been; I really believe that will be the case.

“Yes, there will be lots of interest in Ivan in January. Naturally, there should be.

“He was the third-highest Premier League goalscorer last season – one of them [Harry Kane] has gone to Germany now, so he’s up there as one of the best strikers in the division. He is in the top five in the world, in my opinion.

“So there should be interest, and maybe the time comes very shortly that Ivan moves on to another club.

“But they will have to pay a decent transfer fee to acquire his services because he is some talent.”