Rafa Benitez makes Ivan Toney admission ahead of Brentford meeting
Everton manager Rafa Benitez has admitted he did not know about Ivan Toney during his time at Newcastle United.
Toney will lead the line for Brentford when the Toffees travel to West London on Sunday, having scored 31 goals to help the Bees win promotion to the Premier League last season.
The striker made just two league appearances during his spell at Newcastle between 2015 and 2018, a period that crosses over with Benitez’s time on Tyneside.
However, in his pre-match press conference, the Spaniard refuted claims that he did not give Toney a chance in a Magpies shirt.
“One of the things they [the media] have been talking about, but I didn’t meet Ivan Toney at any time [at Newcastle],” he said.
“I didn’t coach him any day, so I didn’t talk with him when I was there because he was on loan. All the reports that I had when I was asking for players for the first team, nobody was telling me that he was an option, and he was on loan and they sold him so I don’t have any contact with Ivan Toney and I didn’t have any contact him.
“He is doing really well so I was following him last year and this year. He’s doing really well, I cannot argue about that.
“But some people say ‘oh Rafa didn’t use him’. I didn’t see the player, I didn’t talk with the player at any time because he was on loan for the time that I was there.
“I wasn’t aware of anything about him until he was doing really well in the Championship and he’s doing really well now in the Premier League.”
Something’s not right
During Benitez’s time at Newcastle – March 2016 to June 2019 – Toney was indeed rarely at the club, but surely the Spaniard had a part to play in that.
The striker went out on loan to Barnsley, Shrewsbury Town, Scunthorpe United and Wigan Athletic during Benitez’s tenure, so unless someone else was sanctioning those deals, the manager’s story doesn’t quite add up.
Benitez would also probably have had a chance to look at Toney in pre-season. Then there is the fact that the 25-year-old’s eventual permanent departure to Peterborough was under the watch of the former Liverpool boss.
Regardless of how accurate the picture is that Benitez is portraying, it would certainly not be a good look if Toney was to contribute to a Brentford win on Sunday, which would push his former boss closer to the Goodison Park exit.
In other Everton news, one out of favour Toffee is being tipped for a January loan exit.
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