Ivan Toney would be the perfect successor to Michail Antonio [Opinion]

Whilst West Ham may have drawn a blank in any attempts to sign a striker in January, by the end of the deadline there was already talk of potential summer targets.

One name mentioned in dispatches was that of Brentford’s Ivan Toney, who has been tearing up the Championship this season and sits top of the goalscoring charts in the division.

Following the recent deals between the cross-city London clubs, Football League World suggested that the Hammers were paving the way for a summer swoop for the 24-year-old by loaning Winston Reid to the Bees until the end of the season.

Having previously signed Said Benrahma from Brentford, it seems that a relationship is blossoming between the two capital clubs, and the Irons would be well served to return to the west Londoners for their prolific marksman.

After failing to make the grade at Newcastle during his youth career, Toney truly made his name at Peterborough United, scoring 49 goals in just 94 appearances and earning him his move to the newly-built Brentford Community Stadium.

Since arriving in the Championship, the Northampton-born striker has gone from strength to strength and has 19 goals in his first 30 appearances for his current club.

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It’s this path to potential stardom which could help endear West Ham and David Moyes to Toney.

Michail Antonio, the current occupant of the striking berth at the London Stadium, followed a similar career path and it wasn’t until his late 20s when he transformed himself into an established Premier League striker, having learned his trade in the Football League.

Similarly to Antonio, Toney operates centrally with wingers in support on either side, making any potential transition into Moyes’ system a relatively straightforward one.

Therefore, we see the Brentford man as the ideal long-term successor to Antonio, with a summer move advisable to give Toney time to learn from the experienced Irons talisman before becoming the key attacking spearhead at the London Stadium.

Ultimately, whether West Ham can lure another of Brentford’s prized assets eastward may boil down to the Bees’ promotion fortunes this season. Should Toney be unable to fire Brentford to the promised land of the Premier League, the Irons should be first in line to swoop.