Former Newcastle striker Ivan Toney says it’s now our loss that we let him go over the summer – claiming he was never given a chance to prove himself under Rafa Benitez.
The 22-year-old made just 4 appearances for our senior side between signing in 2015 and being sold in 2018, however that was not helped by the fact he was loaned out to FOUR different clubs during that time.
Since leaving for a few hundred-thousand pounds last sumemr, Toney’s bagged an impressive 17 goals and 5 assists in all comps this season – also winning League One’s player of the month award for December.
Here’s what he’s had to say about his time at Newcastle during a big interview with Sky Sports this week:
“You need to be given the chance to prove yourself and I don’t think I was given that opportunity. But I guess it is their loss in the end.”
“I wasn’t involved with the first team (in the summer) so it was time for me to move on to somewhere I could get going,”
“I believed that I was good enough to play there, but the management and people at the top didn’t see that.
“Now I have come here and managed to score a few goals.
He made little to no impact during his time on Tyneside, but he was rarely given a chance under Benitez – making us wonder if that was down to attitude or disciplinary issues given he clearly has talent.
I don’t buy the idea its our loss, however. I can’t see a world where he’s now playing in our first team ahead of Salomon Rondon or developing his game as a back up striker sitting on the bench – even if his recent form really has showcased his talent.
Just look at this goal he scored in a recent FA Cup game with Bradford:
Should we have persevered with Toney, or, as the case was Kevin Mbabu, was he only going to excel once he left the club and got regular game time at a lower level?
Yeah – can score for fun in League One
Brrrian(Quote)