Thomas Frank is hoping Ivan Toney can stay at Brentford for one more season, despite speculation linking the striker away from the club.
Toney, who was part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad during this summer’s European Championship finals, is yet to secure a move away from Gtech Community Stadium ahead of the August 30 deadline.
Frank confirmed Toney will be available for Sunday’s Premier League clash against Crystal Palace.
💬"Ivan Toney trained with a big smile on his face today. He looked sharp and will be available for Sunday"
Thomas on Ivan pic.twitter.com/JBuQcqwr5t
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) August 16, 2024
The 28-year-old is expected to start ahead of new signing Igor Thiago, who picked up a meniscus injury during Brentford’s pre-season friendly against Wimbledon last month.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s match, Frank said, “The fresh news is he (Toney) trained with a fresh smile, looked sharp, good attitude, he’s available for Sunday.
“Very much (satisfied to have Toney). As long as I have Ivan I am very happy and that’s hopefully for another year because he’s a fantastic player. We’ve had four great years together and we’re hoping for another year.
“We know there’s speculation and back and forths but let’s just enjoy the moment and let’s look one day ahead and see what happens.
“Ivan’s biggest strength (is to be focused)…he’s good at blocking it (speculation) out (and) focus on training. He’s a positive character who enjoys football so it’s quite easy for him to want to play.”
Palace enjoyed a strong finish to the last campaign under manager Oliver Glasner, who guided them to their best ever Premier League tally of 49 points.
Frank admitted the Bees need to monitor the threat of Eberechi Eze and 16-goal Jean-Philippe Mateta to have the best chance of claiming all three points in their season opener.
“We need to make sure we’re tight and do our bit on the transitions where Palace are dangerous,” Frank added.
“We need to keep Eze and Mateta quiet. If we do that then we can win the game.
“They’ve done well to build a squad with high profile players which clubs are looking at, so everyone who’s behind Palace is impressive. (Marc) Guehi, Eze and (Michael) Olise are top players.
“They’ve sold one (Olise), and most likely sell the two others. I could imagine they’d have loved a season with all three fully firing, but that’s football, I understand them.”
Brentford signed Fabio Carvalho from Liverpool on a five-year deal earlier this week.
Frank believes the Portuguese attacker provides different strengths to those the Bees currently have in their squad.
“He’s settled in well and he is an easy character,” added the Dane.
“He can offer something we don’t have too much of in the squad. He’s fantastic between the lines, can drive forward, the way he links up, finds solutions, I like what I see.”
