Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has claimed that David Pleat told Daniel Levy to sign striker Ivan Toney for Tottenham during the most recent summer transfer window.

After two outstanding seasons with Peterborough, Toney left London Road during the summer transfer window to join Brentford, where he has enjoyed an outstanding start to his time with the Bees, scoring 13 goals in 15 league appearances so far this season.

However, it seems things could have worked out rather differently for Toney, Brentford and Tottenham, had Pleat got his way at Spurs.

Speaking about Toney's departure from Peterborough during the summer, MacAnthony revealed there had been interest from Tottenham in the striker, as he told the Hard Truth podcast: “David Pleat from Spurs wanted Daniel Levy to sign Ivan Toney.

“David Pleat is a friend of mine and Barry Fry’s and he honestly wanted Levy to sign Ivan Toney. Obviously they were looking at Harry Kane with injuries, they were looking at their lack of strikers, and they wanted back-up."

Explaining why Pleat felt Toney could be the perfect signing for Tottenham at that point, MacAnthony went on to add: “David Pleat saw Ivan Toney as a no-brainer.

"He thought the cost was low, his wages would be low, he would be an easy addition to the Tottenham squad, he was a good age and if it didn’t come off for Tottenham they would probably sell him double the money to a Championship team.”

In the end, Spurs would get their backup to Kane in the shape of Carlos Vinicius, who has so far scored twice in five appearances in all competitions for the North London club since joining on a season-long loan from Benfica.

The Verdict

You do wonder if Tottenham are slightly regretting not taking this opportunity when they had it.

Toney has made an excellent start to life in the Championship with Brentford, and it will surely not be long until he is playing Premier League football.

Of course, with Vinicius only on loan for this season, Spurs could obviously go back in for Toney next summer, although it is likely they will be facing greater competition for his signature at that point.