Former Saints star Carlton Palmer has identified the ideal replacement for Danny Ings, should Southampton decide to cash in on their key striker in the summer.
Brentford’s Ivan Toney is sure to be hot property in the summer, given that the Bees’ coveted asset is topping the goalscoring charts in the Championship with just under 30 league goals to his name this season.
The £5 million signing from Peterborough has transitioned seamlessly from League One to the second division of English football – and Palmer has backed Toney to replicate such a smooth free-scoring transition into the Premier League.
Speaking to FootballFanCast about whether Toney could be Ings’ successor, the ex-Saints midfielder claimed:
“Anybody, it’s been proven, anybody who’s scoring goals in the Championship can take that into the Premier League. You’ve seen that with Tammy Abraham for Chelsea, 20-odd goals at Aston Villa. You’ve seen it with the boy who’s gone from Bournemouth to Newcastle [Callum Wilson] and the boy [Ollie Watkins] who’s gone to Aston Villa.
“If you are scoring over 25 goals in the Championship, you can score goals in the Premier League.”
With Arsenal, Leeds United and West Ham linked, Southampton would likely find themselves engulfed in a bidding war if they want to secure the services of Brentford’s talisman.
However, the fundamentals of Palmer’s argument ring true; of the players that he has listed, they have all seen recent success in the Premier League.
For example, Wilson leads as Newcastle’s top league scorer with 10 goals with Watkins managing a similarly impressive tally.
In that sense, Toney looks ready-made to fill any potential striking void.
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