Why Ivan Toney Is Destined for Success in the Premier League

In the past few months, it has become ever clearer that Steve Bruce isn’t the right fit for Newcastle United, and this has been highlighted by the untimely hamstring injury to the Magpies’ star man, Callum Wilson. However, Bruce and Newcastle’s season may have involved more success had the North Eastern side chosen to hold on to Ivan Toney, who was sold to League One Peterborough United for £390,000 in August 2018.

This season, Toney has shown Mike Ashley the severity of his mistake by scoring 27 goals and contributing 9 assists in 35 games in the Championship for Brentford, who under Thomas Frank, are pushing hard for promotion for the second season in a row after narrowly missing out to Fulham at an empty Wembley Stadium in the Championship play-off Final last July.

While Wilson has been a fantastic signing for Newcastle, scoring 10 goals this season (which is more than a third of all the goals the Magpies have scored), when Toney has been linked to most clubs in the Premier League (including Leicester, West Ham and Arsenal) it's clear that they would be doing better had they put their faith in the 24-year-old. 

Mike Ashley is one of the most infamous businessmen in the UK, owning Sports Direct and House of Fraser while tending to pay his staff the bare minimum, and he has been on the end of over a decade’s worth of scrutiny while owning Newcastle United, with fans criticising his lack of ambition in the transfer market and in his managerial appointments while he certainly runs the club like a brand rather than the family that Geordies tend to view it as.