Exclusive: The reasons why Ivan Toney must have a seat on the England plane this summer

The European Championship is just around the corner, and former super agent, Jon Smith, believes that Gareth Southgate cannot afford to overlook Ivan Toney.

Although the Bees are struggling down near the foot of the table this season, Toney has looked as sharp as ever in front of goal.

That’s remarkable when you consider that he spent eight months out of the game, banned because of illegal betting practices.

Ivan Toney has to go to Euro 2024 says agent

The hit-man will have decent competition up front for the national team, but the question that Southgate really needs to ask himself is whether he can afford to pass up the opportunity.

“We’ve got Foden who will go to the European Championship, Kane will go and Callum Wilson probably. Jarrod Bowen offers a slightly different formatted front runner, Saka is wide and will come inside,” Jon Smith told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“I think you need someone like Ivan Toney on the front line to disrupt things because he’s a big boy. He’s absolutely got a point to prove as well and he scores goals!

“So yes, I would have Ivan Toney in my England team tomorrow morning.”

Whether his image will count against him is an unknown at this stage, but the FA would surely be missing a trick if they were going to exclude the player from the squad purely on the basis that he’s been in trouble.

If that logic were applied across the board, England would probably never be able to field a full-strength XI.

With two months left of the current Premier League season, if Toney continues with his current good form, then it shouldn’t even be a question as to whether the Brentford man gets to pack his bags or not.