Newcastle United news: £10m Championship striker with 29 goals opens up on Magpie stint and his Premier League ambitions

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The Brentford striker is close to breaking Glenn Murray’s 30 goal second-tier record for goals scored.

Toney is currently on 29 for the Bees so far this season with plenty of games in which to better the former Brighton striker’s achievement.

The 25-year-old left Newcastle United in 2018 and has progressed through the EFL via Peterborough United to Brentford in a deal said to be worth a fee in the region of £10million.

Ivan Toney of Brentford shoots during the Sky Bet Championship match between Brentford and Nottingham Forest at Brentford Community Stadium on March 20, 2021.

Here, we take you through everything Newcastle United-related that Toney had to say in his interview with Mail Online.

Ivan Toney on his early days at Newcastle United

"Physically and mentally, there were times when Newcastle first sent me out on loan, where I felt I was getting bullied. I was used to under-23s football, tiki-taka, but in the lower leagues, it’s about results and putting yourself about.

"So from that first loan at Barnsley, I thought I needed to get into the gym and get a bit stronger. I realised I can’t just be trying to play round people. You have to get stuck in in those leagues. There is nothing better than first-team football. You want to be getting a taste of it early so you know what you are stepping into.

"I was young when I moved to Newcastle and it is hard not to think you have made it. You are in the Premier League and people around you are saying, “You are playing for a Premier League team, that’s crazy”. You get brainwashed into thinking, “Right, I’m here now, if I go on loan, it will probably be somewhere in the Champ, minimum”.

"When you go on loan you think, “Right, I’m the big boy here, I’ve come from the Premier League, everything revolves around me”. But it doesn’t. It’s far from the case. If I could go back now, I would have worked a lot harder knowing you have far from made it at that age even if you are in the Premier League."

Ivan Toney on trying to break into the first-team squad at St James’ Park

"[Aleksandar] Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez were the first-team strikers when I was at Newcastle and I thought I had cracked it.

"I was training with these players and I was thinking, “I’m in and around it now, I can take my foot off the gas”, but that should be when you are just getting started.

"You need to keep going and break through. Why can’t you be the main man even though you are young and these guys are on 100 times your wage? Why can’t you be the main man?’"

Ivan Toney on his ambitions for a future in the Premier League

"I’m 25 now and I’m hungry to get into the Premier League. My stats speak for themselves. Even when I had low points out on loan when I was at Newcastle, I never thought the Premier League was an impossible dream.

"I was ready for it last season. Now I’m even more ready to prove what I can do."

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