Andros Townsend believes there are plenty of similarities between Harry Kane and rumoured Tottenham target, Ivan Toney, with the former Spurs winger suggesting that the Brentford star should go to the Euros ahead of Ollie Watkins.
It now appears to be an open secret that Toney will leave Brentford at the end of this season, with the centre-forward looking set to be one of the most hotly contested players of the summer window.
The 27-year-old will enter the final year of his deal at the Gtech Community Stadium this June and has made no secret of the fact that he wants to make a step up to a bigger club (Sky Sports).
The speculation linking Toney with a move to Tottenham shows no signs of dissipating, with The Sun suggesting earlier this week that it could be a three-horse race for the player between Spurs, Chelsea and West Ham as Arsenal’s interest in the striker had cooled.
Even Alasdair Gold stated on the Gold and Guest Talk Tottenham Podcast last week that the Lilywhites might view this summer as the opportune moment to strike for Toney, given his contract situation.
Is Ivan Toney the perfect Harry Kane replacement?
Townsend believes that the Brentford star is similar to his former Tottenham teammate Kane in more ways than one.
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When asked if Toney’s link-up play puts him ahead of Watkins in England’s pecking order for the Euros, he told talkSPORT: “Yes, I think it does. I think he’s very good at that. He does that for his club very naturally, he’s not the quickest.
“I think he’s more Harry Kane-like than Watkins. Nobody in the Premier League works harder than Ollie Watkins – chasing into the gullies, chasing a lost cause, making something out of nothing as well as getting his goals.
“But I just think Ivan Toney’s got that little bit of an advantage when it comes to getting hold of the ball, dropping 10 yards deeper and having people run beyond him.
“I think he’s particularly good at linking with those sorts of players. Again, I think he just gets the nod in that respect if that’s what Gareth wants, or is he going to go for something different, maybe?”
Spurs Web Opinion
There is no doubt that Toney is a top-class striker and is quite similar to Kane but one can argue that he is not the ideal style of centre-forward for Postecoglou’s system. The Australian prefers having mobile number nines who can interchange positions and make runs in behind the opposition backline.
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