{"id":292089,"date":"2023-09-25T19:34:30","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T19:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=292089"},"modified":"2023-09-25T19:34:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T19:34:30","slug":"paul-merson-believes-mikel-arteta-should-sign-ivan-toney-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/paul-merson-believes-mikel-arteta-should-sign-ivan-toney-in-january\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Merson believes Mikel Arteta should &apos;sign Ivan Toney in January&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Ex-Arsenal star Paul Merson believes Mikel Arteta should &#8216;sign Ivan Toney in January&#8217; and insists Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus &#8216;do not take the Gunners to the next level&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Paul Merson has claimed that Mikel Arteta should sign Ivan Toney in January\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It comes after Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw against Tottenham on Sunday\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mail Sport&#8217;s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Paul Merson has expressed his &#8216;worry&#8217; over Arsenal&#8217;s options in attack, claiming that Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side should sign Ivan Toney in January after insisting their current forwards, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus\u00a0&#8216;do not take the Gunners to the next level.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>It comes after his former side were held to a 2-2 draw by Tottenham in Sunday&#8217;s north London derby, with Son Heung-min scoring twice to cancel out an own goal from Cristian Romero and a second half penalty from Bukayo Saka.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While the Gunners have aspirations to undo the heartache of last year&#8217;s Premier League season and clinch their first league title since 2004, Merson claimed that the his old side needed a &#8216;proper centre forward.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;ve always said it from day one &#8211; Eddie Nketiah is not going to win you the Premier League,&#8217; Merson told Sky Sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;You need a proper centre forward. I&#8217;m not blaming Nketiah because they drew 2-2 with Tottenham but with 32 games to go and all the Champions League games they have to play, I don&#8217;t think he takes them to the next level. I don&#8217;t even think Gabriel Jesus takes them to the next level.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/19\/75818635-12559093-Paul_Merson_has_claimed_that_Arsenal_should_sign_Ivan_Toney_pict-a-46_1695668305150.jpg\" height=\"426\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ex-Arsenal and England man Paul Merson believes that the Gunners should sign Brentford&#8217;s star striker Ivan Toney (pictured) in January amid his concerns over their attacking options<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/19\/75818615-12559093-Merson_pictured_spoke_of_his_worry_when_he_saw_Arsenal_s_team_sh-a-49_1695668305156.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Merson (pictured) spoke of his &#8216;worry&#8217; when he saw Arsenal&#8217;s team sheet ahead of facing Spurs<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/19\/75818593-12559093-Eddie_Nketiah_pictured_started_in_Sunday_s_north_London_Derby_bu-a-47_1695668305154.jpg\" height=\"401\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/19\/75819485-12559093-Gabriel_Jesus_pictured_scored_during_Arsenal_s_Champions_League_-a-50_1695668305156.jpg\" height=\"401\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Merson believes Nketiah (left) and Jesus (right) &#8216;are not able to take Arsenal to the next level&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The north London side are unbeaten this season but they&#8217;ve now fallen behind Manchester City in the title race, dropping points to London rivals Spurs and Fulham.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Arteta opted to start a front three of Jesus, Nketiah and Saka on Sunday, but Merson claimed he was &#8216;worried&#8217; when he saw his former side&#8217;s starting line-up, with\u00a0Mail Sport&#8217;s IAN LADYMAN calling his tackle on Guglielmo Vicario during the match &#8216;disgusting&#8217;\u00a0and &#8216;as bad as he had ever seen&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It wasn&#8217;t Arsenal&#8217;s strongest team but when you think about the Champions League and all the games they have to play, it looked a bit weak on Sunday, didn&#8217;t it?&#8217; he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s alright sitting there and thinking: &#8216;they need a centre forward&#8217; &#8211; but who is there?<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Only Ivan Toney is available for them in January &#8211; there aren&#8217;t many centre forwards around in the world. They&#8217;re a dying breed.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Toney, 27, is currently serving an eight-month ban from all football activity after he pleaded guilty 232 of the 262 charges\u00a0brought against him by the FA last year which related to the organisation&#8217;s rules on gambling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Brentford striker is available to play again in January, but was pictured back at the Bees training ground in August, with the club reportedly having &#8216;received special dispensation from the FA\u00a0to allow the player to return to their premises&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>And speaking on the limited numbers of centre-forwards available to Arsenal right now, Merson lauded Toney&#8217;s skillset before claiming that Arteta may have to sign him.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Toney is a good player &#8211; he can hold the ball up, he&#8217;s good in the air. Arsenal might have to go for him. But there are not a million centre forwards around.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After a fantastic season scoring 20 league goals for Thomas Frank&#8217;s side across 33 appearances, Toney has attracted the attention of many clubs around the Premier League, with Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham reportedly interested in the forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/19\/75819561-12559093-Toney_left_is_currently_serving_an_eight_month_ban_for_pleading_-a-48_1695668305155.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Toney (left) is currently serving an eight month ban for pleading guilty to breaching FA rules on betting but has attracted the interest of several clubs following a prolific 2022-23 season<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/19\/75819569-12559093-Mikel_Arteta_s_pictured_side_have_dropped_points_on_two_occasion-a-51_1695668305157.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mikel Arteta&#8217;s (pictured) side have dropped points on two occasions this season, conceding two draws to Fulham and Tottenham, falling to fifth in the table, four points off Man City<\/p>\n<p>Toney also made his debut for England earlier this year in the Three Lions 2-0 Euro 2024 qualifying match against Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His current manager, Frank, admitted he understood why his striker was attracting a lot of interest, adding that Brentford could sell Toney so long as there was a suitable offer for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think every club in the world are a selling club except five or six clubs. We are a selling club, if the right price is there,&#8217; Frank said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think if it\u2019s the right time for the player to go, from my perspective that\u2019s not my decision that would be Phil [Giles, director of football] or Matthew [Benham, Brentford\u2019s owner] in the end, then I think if they have developed well with us, been on the journey, and now they\u2019re proven good enough to go to the top clubs, then I think it\u2019s the right thing, if it\u2019s the right price.\u2019<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12559093\/Arsenal-Paul-Merson-says-Mikel-Arteta-sign-Ivan-Toney-January-Eddie-Nketiah-Gabriel-Jesus.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-Arsenal star Paul Merson believes Mikel Arteta should &#8216;sign Ivan Toney in January&#8217; and insists Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus &#8216;do not take the Gunners to the next level&#8217; Paul Merson has claimed that Mikel Arteta should sign Ivan Toney in January\u00a0\u00a0&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Paul Merson believes Mikel Arteta should &amp;apos;sign Ivan Toney in January&amp;apos; - Sports-Life-News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/paul-merson-believes-mikel-arteta-should-sign-ivan-toney-in-january\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul Merson believes Mikel Arteta should &amp;apos;sign Ivan Toney in January&amp;apos; 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