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‘Toney wanted to go to Celtic- he’d have walked there’ Barry Fry on the striker that Celtic missed out on

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Image for ‘Toney wanted to go to Celtic- he’d have walked there’ Barry Fry on the striker that Celtic missed out on

Barry Fry has lifted the lid on Celtic’s interest in Ivan Toney with the spotlight falling on Peter Lawwell for failing to get the deal done.

According to the Peterborough Director of Football the striker would have walked to Celtic and wanted to continue working with Gavin Strachan.

During an interview in The Sun Fry mentions talks with Neil Lennon and Celtic’s Head of Football Operations, Nicky Hammond. Ultimately club business has to be sanctioned by Lawwell with the negotiations sounding familiar to the John McGinn situation in 2018.

There seemed no urgency on Celtic’s part to sign the midfielder from Hibs with three offers turned down. Aston Villa appeared on the scene, agreed a £3m fee with McGinn driving them to promotion to the EPL and being talked about by other clubs in the £30m bracket- a 10 fold increase in value while Celtic swithered.

Fry’s method of public negotiations is in stark contrast to the way that Celtic go about business but with 14 goals from 16 Championship appearances Brentford seem to have got great value for their £6.5m transfer fee.

Discussing the situation in the summer, Fry told The Sun:

Good job I never waited for them to sell Edouard because they didn’t anyway. The boy’s done brilliant for Brentford — and that’s what I expected.

Ivan’s different class. Premier League clubs are ringing me up about him. Those clubs wanted to take him before but that was just to put him on their benches. Now they want to take him to play.

I said to Lenny and Nicky Hammond, when I met him, that Ivan wasn’t only a goalscorer, he was also the best DEFENDER we had. Honestly, at opposition corners and set-pieces the boy was brilliant with clearing headers.

What do I think he’s worth for them now? They might get £30-50m for him if he carries on the way he is.

Ivan wanted to go to Celtic because of the relationship he had with Gavin Strachan through working with him at Peterborough last season. And let’s be fair, Celtic are also one of the biggest clubs in the world with their support.

At the time, they were prepared to give him £25,000 a week — more than what the others were prepared to. That said, he’s got a better deal at Brentford. Brentford really wanted him and did their homework. But Ivan would have WALKED to Celtic.

Celtic did pay £5m for Albian Ajeti but the Swiss striker appears to have fitness issues, starting just nine matches since moving from West Ham with no goals since September 27.

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