Pundit Keith McGinty has been talking about Celtic’s links with a move to sign Ivan Toney and has given positive insight into the rumours.
McGinty was present on the latest episode of ‘The Cynic Weekly’ podcast and a discussion took place about Celtic’s new first-team coach Gavin Strachan. While talking about the new appointment, McGinty revealed that this could be a huge boost in the club’s chase of Peterborough United striker Ivan Toney.
Posh director of football Barry Fry had recently revealed in an interview with the Daily Mail (via the Scottish Sun) that the Hoops are looking at Toney. He went on to say that the club would demand a fee of £15 million to part ways with the striker. Strachan, who has joined Celtic as a first-team coach recently, was the assistant manager at Peterborough before arriving at Parkhead.
With that in mind, McGinty said: “One thing I want to say about big Gavin Strachan coming in, you’re talking about the influence that they have and the contacts that they have.
Do Celtic really need to sign Toney?
No point signing him
Yes, we need him
“One player that’s been linked with Celtic is the striker Ivan Toney, who worked with Strachan. They might have an inside track on what we need to do to get him. Working with Strachan might be a positive for him, if we’re trying to get him to come up to Celtic.”
Because of Strachan’s experience of having worked with Toney at Peterborough, McGinty believes that it could give them a very good chance of signing the striker in the summer.
TIF Thoughts…
Recent comments from Fry suggest that the Hoops could really be looking at the possibility of signing Toney. The striker was a regular goalscorer for Peterborough in the 2019/20 season, as he found the net a total of 26 times in all competitions. In League One, he scored a total of 24 goals and got six assists as well (via Transfermarkt).
That is a reflection of how potent a goalscorer Toney is. But since his club values him at £15 million, Celtic might not be able to sign him. Odsonne Edouard is in talks to sign a new deal at Celtic and if he doesn’t leave, there would be no point in bringing Toney in as Celtic already have Leigh Griffiths, Vakoun Bayo and Patryk Klimala in the side.
Even though Strachan’s presence could make it easier for Celtic to sign Toney, that signing might not make sense for the Hoops.