Ivan Toney has revealed how he has been punishing himself during his time away from football and even admitted to falling out of love with the sport.
The Brentford striker was suspended by the Football Association after admitting to 232 breaches of their gambling rules but will make his first-team comeback this month.
The 27-year-old’s ban will end on January 16, meaning Toney will be available for Brentford’s next Premier League match against Nottingham Forest, set to take place on January 20.
Toney – who was forbidden from training with his team-mates for the first four months of the ban – was thinking about walking away from football and fell out of love with the game.
He told The Mirror about how he would ‘punish’ himself during his time away from the sport and even admitted to falling out of love with the game before being integrated back into the senior set-up.
Ivan Toney has revealed how he has been punishing himself during his time away from football and even admitted to falling out of love with the sport
Ivan Toney is set to return to competitive football on January 17 after his eight-month ban
Chelsea and Arsenal have both been linked with moves for the Brentford striker
Speaking to The Mirror, Toney said: ‘I didn’t watch football. I didn’t watch football for a while. In a way I punished myself. There was a stage I probably did fall out of love with football. It is what it is, the situation is done.’
Toney is due to return to competitive football on January 17 following his eight-month suspension for betting offences. However, he’s been training with the first XI to build-up his fitness and playing with the club’s B team to get some minutes under his belt.
The 27-year-old, who has scored 63 goals for Brentford in 111 appearances since joining in 2020, hit the headlines on Saturday after netting three goals for the club’s B team in their impressive 5-1 victory over Southampton‘s U23s.
The star striker took just four minutes to find the back of the net after converting Kyreece Lisbie’s delivery at the near post and then notched his second from a free-kick.
Toney rounded off his hat-trick on 55 minutes after turning home a fine cross before going on to register an assist – teeing up Iwan Morgan to score Brentford’s fourth of the afternoon.
Toney’s performance on Saturday garnered a lot of attention – especially from the Premier League club…