Fair to say that Ivan Toney has made a decent impression at Brentford.
Having brought in Ollie Watkins from Exeter and developed him into a very promising striker, Brentford sold him to Villa last summer (2020) for close to £30m and spent up to around £10m of that on Ivan Toney as a replacement, from then League One Peterborough.
Not only has Ivan Toney been a key figure in Brentford’s promotion to the Premier League, he also set a new record for goals in the Championship, including the play-offs he has scored 33 goals in 48 league appearances this season.
Heading back in time, Ivan Toney started his career at League Two Northampton Town, then on Graham Carr’s advice, Newcastle United bought the then 19 year old for £500,000.
At that point in summer 2015, the 19 year old striker had scored 11 goals in 53 League Two appearances.
Newcastle fans didn’t really give this low key signing much consideration, as that was the summer when Mike Ashley suddenly allowed spending of over £50m on Mitrovic, Mbemba, Thauvin and Wijnaldum. What could possibly go wrong…
That 2015/16 season…
