Frank defiant on Toney’s Brentford future after eight-month soccer ban
B
rentford boss Thomas Frank says the membership should shield Ivan Toney‘s psychological well being throughout his eight-month ban from taking part in, and has insisted the striker’s future stays with the Bees.
On Wednesday, Toney was suspended until January 2024 and fined £50,000 by an unbiased panel after admitting 232 breaches of Football Association (FA) betting guidelines.
The ban solely applies in England however the FA, who’re nonetheless awaiting the panel’s written causes, will apply to increase it worldwide to forestall Toney in search of a mortgage transfer to a unique nation.
Toney has additionally been banned from coaching with Brentford for the primary 4 months of the suspension, till mid-September, and the membership continues to be ready to find precisely what the 27-year-old will be capable of do.
But Frank, who confirmed that the 20-striker would have missed the ultimate two video games of the season with a hamstring harm anyway, stated Brentford will “do everything” to assist Toney.
“We have been in contact with him. First and foremost he is disappointed and sad about the situation,” Frank advised a news convention forward of Saturday’s London derby at Tottenham.
Banned: Ivan Toney has been suspended for eight months over breaches of FA betting guidelines
/ Getty Images“We are still waiting to find out what he can do, how we can approach him, what he is allowed to do, especially the first four months.
“One factor is for certain: we’ll do all the pieces we are able to to be there for him, assist him, watch out for the psychological well being [aspect] in it. Of course, he is finished some errors however we should be there for him and need to be there to assist him. We simply have to know what we’re allowed to do.”
Toney will have just 18 months remaining on his Brentford contract when his ban is lifted but Frank says there is “little doubt” he will remain in west London, amid suggestions he could be offered a new deal to ward off interest from the likes of Chelsea.
“His future is with Brentford,” said Frank, who acknowledged that Toney’s England prospects had been damaged by the ban. “There’s little doubt about that. Regarding what we do in the summertime, we do not know but.
“Instead of a problem, I like to call it a challenge. We were, for various reasons, prepared for what would happen if someone in that front line left us. We think, in-house, we have good replacements in [Yoane] Wissa and Kevin Schade.
“When Wissa has to step up, he scores. He scored in opposition to Liverpool when he needed to step in, he scored in opposition to West Ham when he needed to step in, and hopefully he’ll rating tomorrow when he steps in. Kevin Schade is unquestionably pretty much as good down the center as he’s out vast.
“Every time we lost a player, we dealt with it. In many situations, we had the player inside the club. We had to replace 25-goal Neal Maupay so we transformed Ollie Watkins to a nine and he scored 28. Maybe we can do that with Wissa or Schade. It’s a challenge we are up for.”