Cobblers boss Wilder reveals reason for Toney omission at Brackley

Cobblers boss Chris Wilder has confirmed he took the decision to leave Ivan Toney out of the squad for the game at Brackley due to mounting interest from higher-level clubs.
WANTED MAN - Cobblers striker Ivan Toney was left out of the team for the match at Brackley TownWANTED MAN - Cobblers striker Ivan Toney was left out of the team for the match at Brackley Town
WANTED MAN - Cobblers striker Ivan Toney was left out of the team for the match at Brackley Town

And Wilder will now wait to see what happens over the next couple of days as the highly-rated hitman prepares to make his move.

Toney was the subject of a bid from Wolverhampton Wanderers last November and Newcastle United recently opened talks with Cobblers about acquiring his services.

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The 19-year-old is a product of the Northampton academy and has scored 13 goals in 60 appearances for the club.

He has been involved in pre-season action, starting Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw against Birmingham City at Sixfields.

But Wilder thought it wise to omit him from his side for Saturday’s 3-0 Maunsell Cup final win at St James’ Park, which saw Alfie Potter net twice and Marc Richards once.

“There’s been some interest from Championship and Premier League clubs and we took the decision not to involve Ivan,” Wilder said.

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“That will progress in its time and if it does, we’ll deal with that. If it doesn’t, he’ll be back as our player.

“Quite a lot of things have to happen for a player to be transferred or move on and everybody has to sort their own part of the deal out.

“Today we took the decision not to involve Ivan and we’ll see what happens over the next 24, 48 hours.

“I can’t speculate what’s going to happen.

“We’ll know more in the next 48 hours and I’m sure we’ll talk about it next week if anything has kicked on.”