'Didn't like him' - theory emerges for why Arsenal failed to sign £40m striker

Arsenal had been linked with acquiring a new striker all summer. However, the transfer window has now ended and Mikel Arteta remains without the hotly anticipated new frontman.

One star that had been attracting a lot of interest from Arsenal earlier on in the season was England international Ivan Toney. However, over the course of the summer, such attention from the Gunners waned and on transfer deadline day, the former Brentford talisman signed an eye-watering deal with Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli instead.

While there were rumours indicating the 28-year-old had wished to remain in the Premier League, with Chelsea also a potential option, moving to N7 was never to be on the cards after the two parties had held an initial conversation.

According to reports from the Independent, Arteta quickly went off Toney as a potential new striker for the club because he didn’t believe he would fit in with the squad’s dynamic. The reports indicated that part of the Arsenal head coach’s turnaround of the club has been instilling a ‘team-centric mentality’, working as a unit, and the Spanish manager was not convinced the former Bees star would able to contribute with the required attitude.

Speaking on Charles Watts’ Inside Arsenal podcast, the Gunners’ insider TeamNewsandTicks said of the relationship between Arteta and Toney back in June: “They don’t like him. They met him and didn’t like him. When he signed with his agency in August last year, they said ‘what do you want’, he said ‘get back playing, get back in the England squad and move to a big club, preferably Arsenal’. He saw himself fitting in as the number 9.

“He thought he would get tons of goals and he thought he’d suit the system. They met him and they purely didn’t like him. With Toney, there’s just stacks of evidence of a personality that you’d imagine Arteta didn’t want around the squad.”

Toney had an exceptionally impressive 2022/23 campaign, scoring 20 goals for Thomas Frank’s side, but would go on to miss a half of the 2024/25 season due to an eight-month ban for breaking FA betting rules.

After failing to secure a move to a top six Premier League side, the striker signed a deal with Al-Ahli. The Saudi side reportedly paid Brentford £40m for Toney’s services and the striker is now set to receive a salary in the region of £403,000-per-week.