Celtic make £4m bid to sign Toney

Parkhead club table offer for Peterborough striker and Ibrox target

CELTIC have lodged a £4million bid for Peterborough striker Ivan Toney that could rise to more than £6m with add-ons.

The striker scored an impressive 24 goals in League One for Posh last season before the football shutdown and has been on the Parkhead outfit’s radar for a number of months. Peterborough director of football Barry Fry recently claimed he would not accept anything less than the £12m asking price, however the player is out of contract at the end of the upcoming season and could walk away at that time for nothing.

It is understood that Celtic have tabled an offer of an initial £4m for Toney, 24, with the thoughts being that clauses in his contract and the structure of the potential deal could see his current club make more in the long term.

Brentford are also believed to be interested and have tabled an offer of around £6m for the attacker. The Bees could also potentially have Premier League football to offer as an incentive to the player.

However it is understood Toney’s preferred destination would be Parkhead, given the relationship between the play- er and first-team coach Gavin Strachan, who previously worked as assistant manager at London Road Stadium. Celtic would also be able to provide Toney with a platform to play European football.

Rangers are believed to be interested in Toney however any potential movement in a deal on Steven Gerrard’s part would require the sale of Alfredo Morelos which may not happen any time this week, allowing Celtic to steal a march on their rivals.

Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirmed on social media that Toney had been the subject of a bid from Scotland, saying: “Look, we have had multiple bids for him from Prem/ Champ and one from Scotland. As expected. I won’t go into who etc as that’s private. As of today he is still our player.”

We reported recently that Celtic coach Strachan admitted he has not been surprised at the interest shown in Toney after his showings in the league last season. And on potential interest, at the time, he said: “I’ve only been on the training pitch for a week and two days so I’ve just been introducing myself to people.

“I haven’t really been privy to those sorts of things. I enjoyed working with Ivan and he’s a striker who has attracted lots of attention and rightly so.”