Ivan Toney: Is prolific Brentford forward ready to become the Premier League's next star striker?

When Ivan Toney left Newcastle United permanently, g for Peterborough in the summer of 2018, he must have felt he didn't belong anywhere. Aged 22, it appeared his Premier League dream was over before it had really begun.

Just three years on, he is now preparing to play for Brentford in the Championship play-off final at Wembley after a season that has seen him score a remarkable 31 league goals, breaking Glenn Murray's previous record of 30 for Crystal Palace in 2012-13.

It looks, one way or another, as if his dream is back on track.

Toney had ed Newcastle from Northampton Town, then managed by Chris Wilder, for £200,000 in August 2015, but got stuck behind Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez in the pecking order at St James' Park, as the club were relegated from the top flight and then promoted a year later.

A total of just two league appearances suggested hopes for Toney were never particularly high and he spent most of his time out on loan.

He played in League One at Barnsley, Shrewsbury, Wigan and Scunthorpe, and by the time he moved to Peterborough, the striker desperately needed to settle down.

Fortunately, he had found the right place to do that; the Posh recognised his talent and ambition and set about making a pitch to entice Toney to the club. A host of other forwards had been developed and sold on by Peterborough, and it was clear they felt Toney could follow that path.

"We'd seen him a lot as a teenager at Northampton and we quite fancied him then," Peterborough director of football Barry Fry told BBC Sport.

"We continued to watch him at Scunthorpe and Wigan and still liked him, but when we made an enquiry, Newcastle only wanted to loan him. I did a deal with them eventually for £300,000 and he came with his parents and his agent.

"I said to him: 'We've watched you for years but you've never had a home'. If you look at what we do with our centre forwards, we had Britt Assombalonga, who we sold to Nottingham Forest for £8m, Dwight Gayle, who we sold to Crystal Palace for £7.5m, Jack Marriott, who we sold to Derby for £5m, Conor Washington went to Queens Park Rangers and Craig Mackail-Smith went to Brighton.

"I told him: 'We'll put you in the shop window. There are always plenty of scouts, and we'll love you'.

"In the two years we had him, he was incredible; he scored 49 goals in 94 games and was probably the best g of the lot."

Toney's move to Newcastle had been instigated by the Magpies' chief scout Graham Carr, a former Northampton player and manager who still lived in the area and watched the Cobblers in his spare time.

"I saw him numerous times and he caught my eye - the size of him and his first touch, he showed great potential," said Carr.

"I thought he would fit into Newcastle's under-21 side. Northampton were struggling to pay wages and there had been a little bit of interest in Toney.

"I told [Newcastle managing director] Lee Charnley about him. He must have done some negotiating and he came back and said: 'Would you pay £200,000 for Ivan">