Peterborough United striker wants to join Celtic, but they need to up their offer

But the Scottish Premier League champions need to up their offer for the gifted striker as Fry claims a deal has almost been completed with another unnamed club.

Long-time admirers Brentford are believed to be the frontrunners in the race for Toney, a fact unaltered by their loss in the Championship play-off final last night (August 4).

Fry has been quiet on transfers lately, but earlier this week he said: “Celtic are running out of time if they want to sign Ivan.

“Ivan wants to go to Celtic, but they are nowhere near our valuation and he could well move to a different club in the next couple of days.

“I was expecting to hear from them on Sunday night after their first game of the season, but they never called.”

Posh are believed to want £10 million for Toney. Brentford are understood to have bid £8 million during the January transfer window and it’s uncertain they will still want to pay even that much because of the financial problems caused by the coronavirus crisis and the fact they missed out on a reported £160 million Premier League windfall.

Celtic, who are now coached by former Posh assistant manager Gavin Strachan, were reported to have had a £5 million bid for Toney rejected last week.

Toney scored 26 goals for Posh in a shortened 2019-20 season. Posh signed him from Newcastle United for around £350k in August 2018. Newcastle are entitled to a sizeable chunk of the Posh profit on the player.