Why Ivan Toney must swerve growing Arsenal and Chelsea transfer interest - for now

Ivan Toney should proceed cautiously during the January transfer window amid links with Arsenal, Chelsea and others. The Brentford striker is preparing for his return to professional football after a lengthy ban, due to be made eligible to play on January 20.

Toney received an eight-month ban over gambling violations, although he has been able to train and compete in B team games since September. The striker was in stunning form before his ban, racking up 63 league goals in 111 league appearances for Brentford, and the Bees have missed him sorely.

Thomas Frank's men are currently just four points above the drop zone despite finishing as high as ninth last season, although that campaign was aided by Toney's goals - 20 of them, to be exact. The England international had an 11-goal lead over the club's second top scorer, Bryan Mbuemo.

His suspension was a controversial one. The irresponsible manner in which gambling was allowed to take over football sponsorship meant it was inevitable that some players would get caught up in the habit. Sure, the Premier League is starting to ease gambling sponsorship, but only after it has maximised profit, and the moves have come too late for players like Toney.

Then again, while players should receive significantly more support than they currently do, Toney, like all of his teammates, know they cannot gamble on football. It is an agreement they sign up for from the moment they sign their first professional contract, and it has never changed. The striker knew he was breaking the rules, and at a time when leagues must set an example to prevent widespread breaches of gambling violations, a ban was inevitable.

Besides, Toney has admitted he made mistakes, and he will undoubtedly learn from them. The ban is almost served, and we need not drag him through the mud again. We all make mistakes, after all.

But we cannot pretend that we don't have a debt to pay to those who stick by us through tough times in our lives, and the same applies to Toney, who is fortunate enough to have a good club behind him in Brentford. The Bees were never going to release him, knowing the ban was only eight months long, but another club and another CEO could have taken legal action to avoid paying the striker's wages during the ban.

Having stood by Toney during the eight-month layoff, the 27-year-old surely has a moral duty to spend the next few months saving the Bees from potential relegation, and that's not the only reason he should do it.

This is a player who has not played top-level professional football since last season. He is going to need time and patience to get back to his very best. While Toney is a player who is destined to play at the top of the Premier League, this is not the right time to join a club like Arsenal, who will rely on him to be his best from the moment he arrives, given it is January and they are already deep into a Premier League title race.

Even worse, he could join a Chelsea side who haven't found any consistency this season, and a club where hardly any of their new signings have thrived over the course of the last 18 months. Toney has an opportunity to do right by Brentford, to help them beat the drop, and to recover his form and fitness along the way.

He could then leave the Bees with his reputation firmly intact, likely in the England Euro 2024 squad and ready for the big transfer this summer, be it Arsenal, Chelsea or another top club. His pay day will come, but this is not the right time.