Peterborough exec Barry Fry has confirmed Celtic were in for their top striker Ivan Toney in the summer and more importantly, the striker was desperate to join the Scottish champions.
A mixture of the clubs pull and Gavin Strachan heading there convinced Ivan Celtic was the right club to go to. It was well documented in the press as Barry Fry kept going on about it and calling our Celtic for not paying the asking price.
In the end, Celtic didn’t make a deal with the English club and Toney went to Championship side Brentford where he is excelling. A commanding physical striker who scores goals for fun.
It stands to reason Celtic liked the look of him but the club wouldn’t put down the cash. It will ultimately be Celtic’s loss, when we do have to replace Edouard in the summer, it’s going to be much harder.
Speaking about the potential deal, Fry told SunSport Toney would’ve walked to Celtic.
Good job I never waited for them to sell Edouard because they didn’t anyway. The boy’s done brilliant for Brentford — and that’s what I expected.
Ivan’s different class. Premier League clubs are ringing me up about him. Those clubs wanted to take him before but that was just to put him on their benches. Now they want to take him to play.
I said to Lenny and Nicky Hammond, when I met him, that Ivan wasn’t only a goalscorer, he was also the best DEFENDER we had. Honestly, at opposition corners and set-pieces the boy was brilliant with clearing headers.
What do I think he’s worth for them now? They might get £30-50m for him if he carries on the way he is.
Ivan wanted to go to Celtic because of the relationship he had with Gavin Strachan through working with him at Peterborough last season. And let’s be fair, Celtic are also one of the biggest clubs in the world with their support.
At the time, they were prepared to give him £25,000 a week — more than what the others were prepared to. That said, he’s got a better deal at Brentford. Brentford really wanted him and did their homework. But Ivan would have WALKED to Celtic.
Celtic are going through one of their more difficult spells in the last ten years. While Toney would have been a great capture, it’s our goalkeeping and defence which is proving the real problem this term.
