There is great news for West Ham after Arsenal met with a mutual target and it reportedly went pear-shaped.
Both West Ham and London rivals Arsenal are in the hunt for a striker this summer and that could put them on a collision course.
In fact it is very much among the top priorities for West Ham and Arsenal.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but fans and journalists felt the Hammers and the Gunners both needed another forward last summer.
And there is an argument to say that was proved correct over the course of last season as West Ham fell short of qualifying for Europe and the Gunners in their quest for silverware.
Hammers and Gunners hunt for new striker
While Julen Lopetegui and Mikel Arteta will likely be shopping in different markets for players, West Ham and Arsenal do have one mutual target.
Ivan Toney has been linked with a move to West Ham and Arsenal.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank has admitted Toney will be sold this summer.
Toney has been a longstanding target for West Ham. Indeed the Hammers famously passed up the chance of signing Toney from Peterborough for just £10m.
West Ham majority owner David Sullivan says that decision ranks among the worst of his time in football.
Journalist Graeme Bailey exclusively told Hammers News recently that West Ham remain interested in Toney.
Arsenal have always cast a shadow over West Ham’s hopes, though.
Not anymore, though, it seems.
Arsenal meeting with Toney goes pear-shaped
Because there’s great news for West Ham as an Arsenal meeting with the mutual target goes pear-shaped.
Speaking on the Inside Arsenal podcast, a Gunners insider told Charles Watts that Arsenal had a meeting with Toney but were put off.
“They don’t like him. They met him and didn’t like him,” the Arsenal insider said when Watts asked why the talk of a move to the Emirates had gone quiet.
“I said in February a week prior that I thought Toney would be an Arsenal player because they met him, but I found out what happened from that meeting and that they didn’t like him.
“Essentially, I think they’d been speaking behind the scenes to him and his agent, he wanted to move to a big club and preferably Arsenal, he thought he would get tons of goals and suit the system, but they met him and they purely didn’t like him.”
It was also suggested Toney has a personality that Arteta does not want around the Arsenal squad.
Great news for West Ham but will Lopetegui be put off?
This is great news for West Ham, though, given the club’s interest in Toney.
The big problem for the Hammers now seems to be Spurs.
It was claimed last week that West Ham and Arsenal’s big rivals are in a straight fight for Toney.
But Spurs were said to be readying a first official bid.
Striker is just one of a host of positions West Ham need to strengthen this summer.
So it will depend on the figure Brentford hold out for as to whether West Ham can afford it and want to get involved.
West Ham have also been linked with a number of other strikers including Youssef En-Nesyri.
It is worth considering, though, that Lopetegui and Arteta know each other well. They are two of a group of elite coaches who have come from the Basque region of Spain and as a result share similar footballing ideologies.
So Lopetegui will be well aware if Arteta did not like what he heard and saw when meeting Toney.
And that may make West Ham think twice about signing him too.
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