Peterborough United director of football Barry Fry has revealed that David Moyes turned down a move to sign Ivan Toney from Posh in the summer due to his price tag.
The League One side took a punt on Toney back in 2018, for a fee reported to be around £650,000, and like many strikers over the years Peterborough turned him into a goalscoring machine.
Even though he couldn't help get the club into the Championship, Toney scored 40 league goals in 76 outings and it led to a number of clubs lining up for him in the summer of 2020.
In the end though it was Brentford that won the race for Toney - and they aren't half glad they made the move in the end.
The 25-year-old has made the step up to the Championship look like child's play, scoring 28 times in 36 games and he's on his way to breaking records.
A number of Premier League clubs have been linked with a move for Toney in the summer, and it's almost certain he will end up at a team in that league should the Bees not get promoted this season.
The likes of Arsenal and Leeds have been linked and another team that will surely be in the market for a striker following January's sale of Seb Haller is West Ham United - the Hammers though could have already had Toney last summer as they showed major interest.
But manager David Moyes apparently had concerns about a number of things regarding Toney such as his cost - he eventually left London Road for an initial fee of £5 million which could rise to £10 million.
I spoke to David Moyes and his team about him (Toney)," Fry told FootballFanCast.
“They half fancied him. They thought it was a bit of a gamble from League One to the Premier League.”
“And anyway, after all that, he thought I was asking too much as well!”
The Verdict
To be fair, Moyes' concerns about the step up are very valid - have any strikers made that kind of jump up two levels to become prolific in the Premier League?
There was no way of knowing that Toney would make the kind of impact he has at Brentford, and Premier League clubs are rightly queueing up for his signature.
He could be an ideal fit for the Hammers, but he may now cost over £20 million more than he would have done last summer - if Moyes thinks Toney will bring him goals though the price will certainly not matter.