Thomas Frank has acknowledged that there will come a time when Brentford will consider selling Ivan Toney.
In his three years with the Bees, Toney has developed into one of the most highly-regarded forwards in English football, contributing 68 goals and 21 assists from 124 appearances in all competitions.
As many as 32 strikes and nine assists have come from just 66 outings in the Premier League, but Brentford currently find themselves in a tricky position regarding the 27-year-old.
At a time when he has less than two years remaining on his contract, Toney is absent until January courtesy of being handed an eight-month ban for breaching betting regulations.
According to reports, there is widespread interest in the England international's signature with the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Chelsea said to be monitoring the situation.
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The suggestion is that Brentford may look to recoup in the region of £80m for Toney, although they effectively have just two transfer windows to generate a fee of that size.
From Brentford's perspective, they would ideally like to retain the services of a player that Frank describes as one of the best players in his position in world football.
Nevertheless, speaking to Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, Frank has admitted that a sale cannot be ruled out once business reopens at the beginning of 2024.
Frank said: "I think every club in the world is a selling club apart from five or six clubs. We are a selling club if the right price is there. I think it's the right timing for the player to go, that is not my decision in the end.
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"If they build well with us on this journey, and now prove they are good enough to go to the top clubs, but for the right price. Yes, it does apply to him too (Toney), I understand why there are a lot of rumours out there, for me, as a striker and a number nine, I don't see many others better than him in the world.
"You have [Harry] Kane, Robert [Lewandowski] and [Erling] Haaland, but not many scored 20 goals in the Premier League for a very good Brentford side of course, we are not creating as many chances as the top six teams, so imagine him in a top team, he would easily score 20, 25 goals."
Rather than acquire a like-for-like alternative in the summer, Frank has placed faith in Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade, while Neal Maupay has returned to the West Londoners to add further competition.
A total of eight goals have been scored in their opening five matches, despite failing to find the back of the net in a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle last weekend.
Darren Plant
