Returning Ivan Toney has eyes on England Euro 2024 spot – but Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins & Co hope to keep him out

IVAN TONEY is back.

And club and country hope he can be the same player – or even better – that he was before his eight-month ban for betting offences.

Sunday TimesIvan Toney will be hoping to add to his one England cap[/caption]

Toney knows he owes Brentford big time for their support and understanding. 

After being deprived of their star striker’s services for the first half of the season – and having lost Bryan Mbeumo to a serious ankle injury -the Bees are hovering just two places and three points above the relegation zone.

That fact alone would make selling Toney in this transfer window a different kind of ill-advised gamble.

Even if Brentford could secure an £80million+ fee, they would risk losing a lot more money in the event of relegation.

But that’s a big “if”. Toney’s leading suitors – Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United – are not in a position to spend that kind of money this month.

So circumstances, as well as mutual affection, are conspiring to keep the destinies of the striker and the club entwined for at least a little longer.

It is now down to Toney to give himself, Brentford and England reasons to put the whole sorry affair behind them.

Starting, ideally, with Saturday teatime’s basement clash with Nottingham Forest.

In many ways, the equation is pretty simple.

The more goals Toney scores, the sooner Thomas Frank’s team will move away from the drop zone.

And the better he plays, the stronger the case he will make to force his way into Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 plans – a target he has acknowledged.

The England manager showed sympathy to Toney from the moment the ban was announced, publicly questioning the morality of preventing him even from training while he served the suspension.

But make no mistake, the 27-year-old has it all to do to make it on to the plane to Germany.

Because while humanity is one of Southgate’s defining characteristics, so is loyalty.

Which means Toney, with just one senior cap to his name, must give the England boss very good reasons to prefer him to strikers with more experience at Premier League and international level.

Players like Marcus Rashford and Callum Wilson, for instance, despite their own struggles this season.

Toney, for all his exploits in the previous two top-flight seasons, has still played way more games in the third tier of English football.

He also has to show that he deserves a spot ahead of two other forwards who have come up through the leagues, Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen.

Watkins, chasing the title with Aston Villa, currently looks like England’s best option to provide back-up to Harry Kane as a central striker. 

Although Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke, as the highest scoring Englishman in the top flight, might have something to say about that.

March’s friendlies against Brazil and Belgium will be the last chance for Toney and everyone else to prove their international pedigree before June.

So there’s a lot for Toney to do, and not a lot of time to do it.

But if he delivers, everyone’s a winner.