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It was after England’s 0-0 draw with Ghana in their second World Cup group game on Tuesday that Ivan Toney was reminded that young children ask the best questions. Two of his three boys were there – the eldest is back at home – and one of them came straight out with it.
Toney is laughing as he tells the story and pretty soon so is everyone else. “My son is saying: ‘Ah, why have I travelled all this way and you’re not playing?’” the Al-Ahli striker says. “It’s hard to respond to that. It’s like: ‘Daddy is waiting …’”
Toney is asked whether the boy has a Harry Kane shirt. “To be fair, he has gone to see those boys, not me,” he replies. “After the game, it was the first time he’s seen me and I went to give him a big hug. He brushed me aside and said: ‘Where’s Saka? Where’s Dec [Rice]?’ I miss you too, boy!”
Toney is under no illusions as to where he stands in the England No 9s pecking order – firmly behind Kane and probably Ollie Watkins too. But with knowledge and clarity come comfort and focus. As England prepare for their final group game against Panama in New Jersey on Saturday, Toney is waiting. He is ready.
The 30-year-old is one of Thomas Tuchel’s finishers – a player to come off the bench towards the end, even at the very end, for a specific purpose. In Toney’s case, it is to make his presence felt inside the area, to bring a bit of chaos, to make something happen, maybe on a set piece; especially if England are chasing a goal.
It is what he did in the Euro 2024 last-16 tie against Slovakia. Introduced in the fourth minute of stoppage time as England trailed 1-0, he occupied a couple of defenders on a long throw-in and helped to create the space for Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick equaliser. In extra time, Toney supplied the assist for Kane to head the winner. When Tuchel called up Toney for the World Cup, he said Kane “loves to play with him because he thinks that he [Toney] takes the attention off him”.
Perhaps Toney could come on if penalties were looming, as he did in the quarter-finals of the Euros against Switzerland, when he executed a trademark no-look conversion in England’s shootout victory. Remember the jokey video that the Football Association put out after with Toney playing no-look Connect Four, darts and basketball; even reading while looking away? Toney is a dead-eyed penalty-taker and he does things his way. There is a reason why he has the word Original tattooed in front of his left ear.
“I like to think I bring more than just penalties,” Toney says. “But if I’m just to come on for one minute to take a penalty, I’d never turn that down. I’m here to help the team. Football changes very fast and we saw that at the Euros. I got one minute [at the end of stoppage-time against Slovakia] … I’m down and frustrated. And then we score and progress. Nobody can think the game is done. You just have to be ready for when you’re called upon.”
Toney always believed that the World Cup call would come, mainly because of the volume of goals he has scored since his move to Saudi Arabia from Brentford in August 2024. In his first season, he got 30 in 44 appearances in all competitions. In the one just gone, it was 42 in 49. In both, he helped Al-Ahli to win the Asian Champions League, a stunning achievement not fully appreciated – or even known about – in England. But when Toney says there have been “some swings and roundabouts”, he is not exaggerating.
Tuchel selected him for the first time in June 2025 for the warm-weather training camp in Girona that led up to the qualifying game against Andorra in Barcelona and friendly against Senegal in Nottingham. Until he made Toney his wildcard pick for the World Cup, it was the last time. Tuchel did not connect with Toney. He felt that his “level of training and level of commitment was not where we wanted [it to be].” He used him only as an 88th-minute substitute against Senegal, which Toney was not happy about.
But after Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dominic Solanke fluffed their auditions in the March international window, Tuchel and his staff found that Toney’s name kept coming up as they discussed scenarios. One of Tuchel’s assistants, Justin Cochrane, knows Toney from their time at Brentford and vouched for him strongly. So did the Al-Ahli manager, Matthias Jaissle. When Tuchel was a youth coach at Stuttgart, he had Jaissle as a player.
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Had Tuchel misinterpreted Toney? Not in terms of his personality off the pitch because he knows that Toney is “a glue … someone who connects with everyone very, very well”. Tuchel resolved to clear the air with him, to discuss what he had not liked about his work. Also, to be open about the role he saw for Toney. The talks went well. A number of players involved in the camp last June have not returned, namely Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Conor Gallagher. Toney has done.
“It wasn’t really an apologising situation on both sides,” Toney says of the conversations with Tuchel. “Because he doesn’t really know me as a person, it was more just speaking, diving in deeper on what I’m about and what he’s about. He got good feedback on myself from other players and other people who are not in football. I think he’s starting to see the real me.
“Was there a misinterpretation? Maybe that did play a part; a miscommunication. That’s why we cleared the air. We’re on the same path now and things are sorted.
“He told me what my role would be, which is better because going into a tournament not knowing where you stand is going to be frustrating. He said he wanted me and if the coach tells you that, it’s on the player to take a decision. Of course I wanted this. What’s also key is being a good person around the camp. I understand I am not going to play as many minutes as I want but I’m still happy and bubbly, training well.”
Toney showed his intentions when he played in the pair of behind-closed-doors training matches in Florida during England’s preparation camp, scoring a hat-trick in each. No one was watching so would he like to describe the goals? “Well, one was an overhead kick …” he begins with a smile. Toney is primed to burst from the shadows.
English (US) ·