The progression of Ivan Toney from Newcastle reject to England call-up

In November 2012, when Ivan Toney came off the bench for Northampton Town against Bradford City in the FA Cup, he made history by becoming the club’s youngest player at the age of 16. After scoring 13 goals in 60 games three years later, he signed a £250,000 deal to join Newcastle United, which was meant to be the beginning of his professional career.

Toney spent his time at St James’ Park, however he only made four senior appearances, all of which were as a substitute. Toney’s chances were slim because Newcastle was continually vying for promotion or avoiding relegation from the top division. Six loans were made to him over the course of three years, and he was in danger of going missing.

Rejection and redemption appear twice throughout the 26-year-narrative. old’s Toney recovered more powerfully after each setback.

Gareth Southgate included him to England’s team on Thursday for their Nations League matches against Italy and Germany at the end of the month, just over four years after Newcastle permanently transferred him to third-tier club Peterborough United for £650,000.

It is impossible to dismiss the striker’s Premier League performance for Brentford. Toney has finally reached the summit of the mountain after an unusual voyage to get there.

When Toney was 14 years old and a member of Leicester City’s academy, he suffered his first significant football setback. A member of the training crew unintentionally told him that he had not been given a scholarship.

He joined Northampton Town despite having grown up in the Eastfield neighbourhood of Northampton with his mother and two sisters. Aidy Boothroyd gave him his debut, and when Chris Wilder took over in January 2014, he was given further opportunities. A team that was in the League Two relegation zone needed to be immediately evaluated by Wilder and his assistant coach Alan Knill.

2014 photo of Ivan Toney representing Northampton Town (Pete Norton/Getty Images) )
“The ball fell over Ivan’s shoulder in an 11-sided game in one of our first practises, and he hammered it into the top corner,” recalls Wilder, who is now Middlesbrough’s manager, to The Athletic. “I turned to face Alan and suggested that he could know anything.

While Toney continued to shine in practise, Northampton’s form began to improve. He developed a strong friendship with Lee Collins and Ben Tozer, two defenders with whom he played head tennis.

Ivan was unique from the other young team members, according to Tozer. He would simply play his game and be a little cheeky. “When kids come up to train with the first squad, they can shrink away, be shy, and be anxious. He was technically excellent and mature for his age.

He was tall and gangly before, but he has since gained a lot of weight. All he had to do was learn to fit into his body and exhibit maturity in his decision-making.

Toney received his second league start from Wilder on the second to last weekend of the 2013–14 campaign. Northampton went to Dagenham & Redbridge with the understanding that a loss would all but guarantee relegation to the National League. They won 3-0 thanks to their youthful hero.

“He was training really well. We were no longer able to keep him out, says Wilder. “We put him in the starting lineup against Dagenham, and he was excellent. He scored two amazing goals, and there was no dispute about his skill.

Toney’s header gave the game its first goal, but his follow-up shot was even more impressive. Jordan Seabright, the goalkeeper for Dagenham, dropped the ball from a corner, and Toney took a touch before kicking the ball overhead. The striker’s debut goals for a senior team kept his hometown team out of the bottom three.

On the last day of the season, he added another header as Northampton defeated Oxford United 3-1 to maintain their three-point lead. Ivan successfully kept us awake, according to Tozer. With what he did, “he simply took the game by the scruff of the neck, and that just epitomises him.”

There were many highs and lows during the ensuing season. Prior to a potential transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Toney failed a medical, although rumours regarding his future remained. He scored eight goals while still a young player to aid Wilder’s team in a mid-table finish.

Graham Carr, who had previously managed and played for Northampton, served as Newcastle’s head scout in 2015. He obtained Toney’s signature using his club contacts. The striker called his father, Ivan Toney Sr., and received guidance from Tozer, who had made a similar transfer to Newcastle at the start of his career.

He had brief cameo appearances in League Cup games against his old team Northampton and Sheffield Wednesday, then he substituted against Chelsea to make his Premier League debut.

2015 image of Ivan Toney getting ready for Newcastle (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images) )
However, his career began to take a wrong turn. He joined Barnsley on loan for a month in November and spent the second half of the 2015–16 season with them. He battled. In March, Newcastle fired McClaren and hired Rafael Benitez to take his place.

Before a trip to play Brentford in November of last year, Benitez, then the head coach of Everton, said he had never met Toney while the two were teammates at Newcastle.

The Spaniard claimed, “I never coached him.” He was on loan, so I didn’t talk to him while I was there. When I was looking for players for the first team, I received the following reports:

“Until he was doing pretty well in the Championship and he’s doing really well now in the Premier League, I didn’t know anything about him.”

Toney was sent out on loan to Shrewsbury Town at the start of the 2016–17 campaign because he was too good for the under–23s but not yet ready for the first team. He changed teams in January after Scunthorpe United boss Graham Alexander’s charm offensive.

The former manager of Salford City and Motherwell reveals to The Athletic that Ivan faced up against them for Shrewsbury in the EFL Trophy. When we play, I focus so heavily on my team that I hardly ever notice an opponent player stand out, but he was up front by himself, which was a thankless task, and was a standout.

During the January transfer window, Alexander travelled up to Newcastle and met with Toney at the railway station. He discussed the difficulties of playing for a League One team that is vying for promotion and provided advice for the striker on how to succeed.

According to Alexander, “He wanted to join the team, score goals, and win.” “We were aware that he would flourish up front for us, but we also needed to pay attention to his hold-up play and work outside of possession. That comes with training and experience. He has grown incredibly well.

Scunthorpe fell to Millwall in the play-off semifinals, falling four points short of securing automatic promotion to the Championship. When Toney went back to Newcastle, he was still without a place to live.

The striker turned down the chance to reunite with Scunthorpe in favour of a loan with recently relegated Wigan Athletic. Opportunities proved to be few, so in January 2018, he returned to Glanford Park. It turned out to be his final stint away from Newcastle, which was his sixth in three years.

Alexander and Toney had a falling out over an incident that occurred during Scunthorpe’s 2-1 loss to Shrewsbury. Despite their reconciliation, the manager was sacked less than a week later.

Alexander explains, “We were given a penalty and he picked up the ball. “There was a significant delay because Josh Morris, our normal penalty taker, and Ivan had a conversation. It took so long to take it that Josh missed it.

“Ivan was a goal-scoring machine. I wanted him because I knew that was part of his character, but on that particular occasion, his desire to score goals won out over the group. It was against the former manager (Paul Hurst) that he had played for. He made a mistake while attempting to prove a point, but I’m sure he learned from it.