With Newcastle United’s winless start to the new Premier League campaign continuing, former Toon striker Ivan Toney continues to excel and gain the plaudits from former players, coaches and pundits.
The 25-year-old has been in the top flight before, but after only two substitute appearances for Newcastle in 2015-16, he dropped into the football league and ignited his career.
Playing under Thomas Frank at Brentford, Toney has arrived back in the Premier League after several loan moves and an impressive chapter at Peterborough where he started to make a name for himself.
He scored 33 goals in his debut season for the Bees which fired them into the top-flight, and the English forward is now making an impression in the biggest league in the world.
Peter Beardsley rates Toney?
Speaking on last night’s Match of the Day, host Gary Lineker told former Newcastle United midfielder Jermaine Jenas and Premier League winner Martin Keown that he had received a text from Magpies legend Peter Beardsley regarding Toney.
Reading out what was said in the text, Lineker said: “He (Beardsley) used to work with Toney at Newcastle, training him and he said he (Toney) was going to be a great player and that he works really hard and that he is a good lad.”
Toney produced a dominant display against Wolves yesterday, scoring a penalty and laying on an assist for his strike partner Bryan Mbeumo to help Brentford to a 2-0 win.
It was a performance that drew high praise from Keown and earned comparisons to Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku.
Keown said: “He (Toney) caused real problems and they (Wolves) were frightened to death of him and he’s got all the qualities you need. We talk about Romelu Lukaku a lot of the time, but he (Toney) caused panic.
“If you look at his pace, power and intelligence, he knows what he’s good at. He belongs at this Premier League level, there is no doubt about that. He’s going from strength-to-strength.”
With Newcastle’s reliance on Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson growing, what the Magpies would give to have Toney back leading the line…
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