Cobblers boss Wilder confirms Newcastle interest in Toney

Chris Wilder and assistant boss Alan Knill watch the Cobblers in their 1-0 pre-season friendly win at Sileby (Picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

The 19-year-old was linked with a £300,000 move to Newcastle in the national media on Saturday, and on Sunday was left out of the Cobblers’ opening pre-season friendly at Sileby Rangers.

Toney was at the game and watched from the visitors’ dugout as the Cobblers won 1-0, but Wilder felt that with so much attention focused on the player, it was better to leave him out of the squad.

Asked what the latest situation was with Toney, Wilder said: “There has been speculation, and maybe it is one for the chairman to answer.

“There has been discussions, we can’t get away from that, and as I have said before, Ivan is a very, very good young player that will attract interest.

“He is coming down the road with us to Brighton, I will know more where we are after I have had discussions with the chairman today and tomorrow.

“If it is kicked on, then we’ll wait and see, and if it isn’t then Ivan will be involved on Tuesday night in the game (at Worthing).”

Toney’s presence in attack was missed as the Cobblers struggled to turn their superiority into goals against a battling Sileby team.

Sam Hoskins, one of four trialists to start the game, scored the only goal on 26 minutes, and although Wilder admitted he would have liked to have scored more goals, he was satisfied with his team’s display.

“I enjoyed that,” said Wilder. “We have come through injury free.

“We have had the majority of the ball, there have been good patterns of play in there, and when we didn’t have it, we got the ball back as quickly as possible.

“The game was played in a great spirit, there was a good crowd, and yes we would have liked to have seen a few more goals go in.

“We do have to tighten up on our finishing, but that is something that will come.

“We are really early days into pre-season, but the basics are there with and without the ball, and everybody contributed to a positive performance.”

As well as ex-Yeovil striker Hoskins, the other trialists were Sheffield FC’s Joel Purkiss, former Reading frontrunner Gozie Ugwu and central defender Rod McDonald.