Brentford striker Ivan Toney could sign a new contract with a release clause amid interest from Chelsea.

Journalist Simon Phillips recently wrote on his Substack: “I’m hearing now Brentford are keen to keep Toney until the summer.”

However, according to Phillips, Ivan Toney will not remain at Brentford on his current wages and could now sign a better deal with a larger salary and a release clause.

It would make signing him a much more straightforward task for Chelsea, though the Blues would have to wait until the summer.

Chelsea making a bid for Toney in January, however, cannot be ruled out. Football.london recently claimed that they are considering launching an offer.

Brentford delaying the inevitable

Whether Toney signs a new contract or not, it looks like he will be leaving the Gtech Community Stadium soon, especially if he does put pen to paper on a deal with a release clause.

The question really is where is he going to end up? For Chelsea, bringing Toney in would be quite a logical move.

Mauricio Pochettino needs a reliable Premier League centre-forward and the 27-year-old proved he can be that last season after scoring 20 goals for the Bees. However, from his perspective, would a switch to Chelsea be good for him?

They are not in the top four right now and are probably not going to finish anywhere close to it, looking at their performance against Newcastle United over the weekend.

If Chelsea are the only side in for Toney, then it is a little bit of a no-brainer. But if other clubs, such as Arsenal, get involved it becomes much more complicated.

It is not quite clear yet where the England international is going to end up. But again, an exit from the Gtech Community Stadium looks nailed on and Brentford would only be delaying that by forcing him to stay in January. However, you can obviously understand their motives behind doing that.