£50m player now admits he just didn’t try hard enough when playing for Newcastle

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Brentford striker Ivan Toney has now spoken about his time at Newcastle United in a brilliant podcast where he opens up about his career and current situation.

Ivan Toney had a three-year spell at Newcastle after the Magpies snapped him up from his hometown club Northampton following an impressive goalscoring spell.

Newcastle thought they had the next big striker on their hands – and it turns out they did, but he had to take a different path to get there.

Toney made just two senior appearances for Newcastle

Toney made only two senior appearances for Newcastle before he was sold to Peterborough. The young striker had six loan spells during his three-year tenure in the North East and now in an interview on The Diary Of A CEO podcast, Toney has shared what he thinks went wrong at Newcastle.

Podcast host, Steven Bartlett asked: “Were you in cruise control?

Toney the admitted: “Yeah, if I even was moving. I probably put the handbrake on. I just thought I’m Premier League now. You see all the big boys training there and you think I’m here now.”

Things obviously didn’t work for him at Newcastle after he stopped giving his all and that’s what led to him being put out on loan and eventually sold.

Toney had been valued at £50m before his betting scandal

It turned out to be the best thing for him in the end as dropping down the leagues to play for Peterborough definitely gave him that wake-up call he needed, eventually getting his dream to play in the Premier League after joining Championship side Brentford and leading them to promotion.

Toney has since shown he has the talent to dominate in the top flight and has even been called up for England. Were it not for a betting scandal which has seen him hit with an eight month ban, who knows where Toney would be now with many teams keen on the £50million-rated striker.

Once Toney has served his ban and gets back up to speed at Brentford, those interested clubs, one of which was reportedly Newcastle, may make a move next summer and he can put all this stuff behind him and focus on getting his career back on track.