GABRIEL MAGALHAES has added salt to Ivan Toney’s wound’s after brutally trolling him following Arsenal’s emphatic win over Brentford.
Toney had been left speechless by his first ever England call up – and he still hadn’t found his voice today.
Brentford barely heard a peep out of their striker as he was outshone by Arsenal superstars William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira.
And Gabriel rubbed in the defeat even more when he Tweeted after the game: “Nice kick about with the boys.”
Smug Arsenal fans joined in too, as they chanted “Ivan Toney, a stroll in the park.”
The tweet and chant were a nod to the ex-Peterborough man’s cheeky “nice kick about with the boys” Tweet after Brentford inflicted a humbling 2-0 defeat over Arsenal on the opening day of the 2021/22 season.
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The post was later used as ammunition in a team talk by Mikel Arteta ahead of Arsenal’s return meeting with Brentford in February last term.
The Arsenal boss told his players to go and “f***ing win”. Win they did – and some too – as the Gunners proved revenge is a dish best served cool.
Arteta will surely have scrolled back through his Twitter archives last night as he sipped on a glass of red and put his feet up on the sofa.
It had been a dream week for Toney as he was included in Gareth Southgate’s 28-man squad for the final two World Cup rehearsals against Italy and Germany.
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Bees boss Thomas Frank said the usually loud-mouth striker was lost for words when he broke the news to him over the phone.
He had been expected to cap his England call-up by rattling the visiting Arsenal backline at lunchtime, having already hit five Prem goals so far this season.
But it was a bleak start for the ex-Newcastle striker who was out jumped by Saliba for the visitors’ opening goal after Bukayo Saka’s delicious, curling corner.
He was unable to make any crucial touch in the first-half as Saliba did a superb job of snaffling him up.
Social media was sent into meltdown of posts with Toney being emptied out of French centre-back Saliba’s pockets.
Toney did, in fairness, lash a peach of a Matt Le Tissier-esque free-kick, just inches over the bar after the break.
Southgate will certainly need to see more of that if he is to lay his marker down for a place at the Qatar World Cup.
Many will be championing Toney’s England plight given he has done it the hard way after being rejected at Leicester at age 14, saving Northampton from relegation at age 18 before being cast-off by Newcastle.
He also played in League One at Barnsley, Shrewsbury, Wigan and Scunthorpe, before finding a home at Peterborough.
Now he has made history at Brentford as their first player to be called-up by England since May 1939.
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It is certainly a different path to the likes of Arsenal goalscorer Jesus’ glamorous journey from Palmeiras, Manchester City to Arsenal.
With the way England is set up now Toney’s story will become even rarer in years to come – which is why many people will be willing him on to do well, just maybe not Arsenal fans.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
