Brentford have no intention of parting with Ivan Toney in the summer transfer window after seeing their 33-goal frontman attract interest from Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham, Chelsea and Leeds United.
A talented 25-year-old took the Championship by storm in 2020-21, finishing as the division's top scorer as he finally got the Bees over a promotion line through another nail-biting play-off campaign.
Failure to book a place among the Premier League elite would have made it difficult for the Bees - who have parted with the likes of Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma and Neal Maupay in the recent past - to retain Toney's services, but they are back in the big time and looking to fend off interest in prized assets.
What has been said?
Brentford's co-director of football Rasmus Ankerson has told Sky Sports on the Toney transfer talk: "Ivan has done amazingly this season and if we hadn't have gone up then there would have been lots of Premier League interest in him.
"Obviously now it's a different situation.
"We would have had to look at that, but that's not a new thing for Brentford.
"Season after season, player trading has been a big part of our business model.
"We have to buy cheap, sell expensive and then reinvest the money into improving the team. It's not going to be a very different Brentford that we see in the future.
"Ivan, like he said after the game, can't wait to start scoring goals in the Premier League. I'm sure that will be for us."
The bigger picture
Brentford are back in the top tier of English football for the first time in 74 years.
Toney has played a key role in bringing that long wait to a close, with his cooly converted penalty breaking the deadlock for the Bees in their play-off final clash with Swansea at Wembley.
It is easy to see why he would be of interest to others, with Tottenham facing the threat of losing Harry Kane while Chelsea are in the market for another No.9 as Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud are edged towards the exits.
Questions have also been asked of Alexandre Lacazette's ongoing presence at Arsenal, how long Rodrigo will be sticking around at Leeds and whether David Moyes can get an out-and-out goalscorer into his West Ham squad ahead of a Europa League adventure in 2021-22.
Brentford, though, are ready to resist any approaches for their star forward, forcing those in the market for a physical presence to lead their line to explore alternative options.
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