Brentford centre-forward Ivan Toney has dropped an interesting transfer claim about Rangers...

What's the talk?

Brentford striker Ivan Toney has revealed that he came close to signing for Scottish giants Rangers, when asked about his failed move to Celtic in 2020.

Toney joined Brentford from Peterborough in the summer of 2020 and the forward has now said that he could have been strutting his stuff for Steven Gerrard's side instead.

He told TalkSport, via the Daily Record:

"Like you said, I was going to sign for Celtic - but I was also going to sign for Rangers.

"So you might react to that..."

Gutted

Rangers fans will surely be left feeling gutted after reading those quotes from Toney. It suggests that a switch to Ibrox was well and truly on the cards for the English forward, but - for whatever reason - it failed to materialise before he signed for Brentford.

The Bees will be counting their lucky stars as he went on to have a phenomenal season for the club in the second tier of English football. He scored 33 goals and provided 10 assists in 48 appearances across the Championship regular season and play-offs, helping them secure promotion to the Premier League.

Toney has started the top-flight campaign with two goals and two assists in six appearances, showing that he can have an impact in the Premier League too. He has averaged an exceptional WhoScored rating of 7.63 and earned high praise from his manager.

Earlier this season, Bees boss Thomas Frank hailed Toney as a lion and lauded the way he goes about improving himself. He said:

"Ivan is very intelligent, because he’s reflecting, and he deserves a lot of praise himself for also coming into a well-run club and listening to all the small bits and adding extra layers to his development and performance.
"If you want to be a top player you need to work hard, constantly reflect and want to learn and then of course you need to have that confidence that he’s got so naturally.
"He’s coming across so fantastically: he’s humble, calm, but with a mindset of a lion." These quotes and the aforementioned statistics highlight why Rangers fans will be gutted that the £21k-per-week beast did not end up playing in blue in Scotland. His form for Brentford in the Championship and Premier League suggests that he would have been a prolific scorer for the Gers in the Premiership, potentially helping them win more trophies with his goals. It will be interesting to see if the reason behind the collapsed deal is ever released. AND in other news, Gerrard must unleash "exciting" £4.5m-rated Rangers beast, he may get fans off seats...