Eddie Howe would 'love' to think that an 'outstanding' player like Ivan Toney would not have to leave Newcastle United today to become an England international.
Toney felt former Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez did not trust him so the striker moved to Peterborough United in 2018 following a series of loan spells away from St James' Park. Benitez always maintained that 'nobody' at the club told him Toney was an 'option' in the loan reports he received and, perhaps, not even the striker could have predicted what happened next.
After earning a move to Brentford, two years ago, Toney fired his side to promotion to the Premier League and the 26-year-old has certainly not looked out of place in the top-flight. In fact, only Harry Kane and Spurs team-mate Son Heung-min have scored more goals in the Premier League in 2022. Was it any wonder that Toney was handed his first England call-up on Thursday?
READ MORE: Everything Eddie Howe said at his press conference
Toney's remarkable rise has not certainly gone unnoticed on Tyneside. In fact, Howe was even interested in bringing the striker back to Newcastle before the summer window opened earlier this year, but the Magpies ultimately signed their number one target, Alexander Isak, from Real Sociedad last month.
Dan Ashworth helped seal that club-record move for Isak, but the sporting director will also try and ensure that young players already on the club's books are not overlooked when Newcastle are strengthening a particular position moving forward. So does Howe believe that the club now have measures in place to prevent prospects having to go elsewhere like Toney did?
"It's a difficult one because every situation and every individual's career path is different," Howe told reporters. "I'd love to think that wouldn't happen now. That's not a criticism of anyone at that time. Why Ivan left? I don't know.
"When you watch him play now and see his attributes and what he can bring to his team, he's an outstanding player. The call-up is a great thing for people that go to the lower leagues and gives them hope that it's not the end of their dreams. He's had to work his way back up and he's done incredibly well."
Toney's call-up for England's UEFA Nations League games against Italy and Germany is a huge blow for Callum Wilson, though, who was not even in contention after picking up a hamstring injury last month. Wilson now faces a real battle to fulfil his World Cup dream as these are the Three Lions' final games before Southgate names his squad for Qatar.
However, Howe believes that the setback will only 'fire' up Wilson even more so that when the Newcastle number nine returns to action, he will 'show how good he is'.
"Never try to predict what will happen in the future and never write off Callum Wilson," he said. "His mindset is incredible.
"I don’t think his World Cup chance is gone, and I don’t think Callum believes so either. He will want to get back as quickly as possible and score goals."
Although Wilson missed out, Newcastle still have two representatives in the England squad for the first time in a long while in Nick Pope and Kieran Trippier. Jordan Pickford's thigh injury means that Pope could get the chance to start both the Italy and Germany games in goal and stake his own claim for the number one shirt before the World Cup in Qatar.
On current form, you would not bet against Pope doing just that after the goalkeeper made an impressive start to his Newcastle career following his summer move from Burnley. No other goalkeeper in the Premier League has made more saves than Pope so far this season, who has also kept a league high three clean sheets, and, tellingly, the 30-year-old was the only shot-stopper nominated for the Premier League's player of the month award for August.
"He's shown for us this year how good he can be," Howe added. "He has kept goal so well. His distribution, crosses, shot-stopping, everything, have been of the highest level so I can't speak highly enough of him and, also, of him as a character in and around the players.
"The players love him. He's got a very dry sense of humour. He's a very funny guy. He's got a big presence so when he walks into a room, you know he's there. He's very popular in the dressing room. The players love him so he's settled in really well."
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