Brentford striker Ivan Toney explains why he turned down Rangers transfer
Brentford striker Ivan Toney has revealed he previously turned down the chance to join Rangers due to concerns over a lack of playing time.
Toney spoke with the Light Blues, along with fellow Glasgow heavyweights Celtic, during Steven Gerrard’s time in charge at Ibrox in 2020.
Explaining his decision to Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO podcast [21 August, 25m 45s], Toney said: “I did speak to other clubs. I actually went up to Rangers and spoke with the manager there, which was Steven Gerrard at the time.
“We spoke a bit, but there were two strikers at the time and they were looking to bring another one in, so there would’ve been four strikers.
“I think the formation that they played, the majority of the time was one striker up top. So I would have been third choice, something like this.
“We went to Celtic, we spoke to Celtic and I think it was the same there. I’m one of three strikers or something like this. I think at the time when I was moving, I wanted to be the main guy.”
The one that got away
Brentford have built a reputation for signing talented players for low fees – none more so than Toney, who has scored 68 goals in 124 games for the club in all competitions.
The 27-year-old fired the Bees to Championship promotion in his first season in West London, before netting 12 goals and 20 goals in the past two Premier League campaigns respectively.
That goalscoring form earned Toney his first England cap earlier this year and, despite currently serving an eight-month ban for breaching the FA’s betting regulations, he has been touted as a target for Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham.
Rangers’ loss was very much Brentford’s gain, then, and it begs the question of what might have been had Gerrard been able to persuade the prolific striker to make the move north.
As it was, the Gers instead signed Jermain Defoe, Kemar Roofe, Scott Wright and Cedric Itten in the forward areas that summer.
Three years later – and with Alfredo Morelos no longer at the club – Rangers are crying out for a striker in the mould of Toney to lead their attack.
In other Rangers news, an early team news update has been provided ahead of the huge showdown with PSV.