The reason Thomas Frank says Brentford star Ivan Toney must be in England's Euros squad

Thomas Frank gave one important reason why Gareth Southgate should include Ivan Toney in his England squad for the Euros.

The Brentford striker was fairly anonymous in his side’s 4-2 defeat to Newcastle on the final day of the season. He had a goal ruled out in the first few minutes for offside and then had a forgettable afternoon, getting a yellow card for a terrible challenge on Bruno Guimaraes and blazing a free kick high and wide.

The Bees manager however still said he “100%” thinks Toney should be in Southgate’s England squad. The Three Lions coach will announce his preliminary training group on Tuesday (21 May). He will then have more than two weeks to run the rule over the players at St George’s Park, before revealing his final 26-man squad on 7 June.

Southgate was in the stands for Brentford’s defeat to Newcastle, perhaps choosing between Toney and Wilson for his third striker spot. And Frank said he thought Toney “actually played a very good game”. “I know he was beating himself up for the big chance in the first half,” he explained.

When asked by reporters if Southgate should pick Toney for the Euros, he said: “I’m biased OK so I think he should be in the squad.” “The most important thing going into that squad is being physically fit,” Frank said, adding that Toney is fully recovered from his injury.

The Brentford manager said that Southgate could throw Toney into a quarter final or semi final, saying “he is the man for the big occasion”. But the main reason the Dane gave for Toney was his prowess from 12 yards.

He described Toney as the “best penalty taker in the world”, joking with reporters that “England has a thing about penalties”. Southgate’s side lost the last Euros in the final on penalties.

After Toney’s goal was ruled out, Newcastle fired in three first-half goals with Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak getting on the score sheet.

The home side came out firing in the second half, with Vitaly Janelt slotting in a Yoane Wissa cross four minutes after the restart. Brentford then looked to make a game of it, as Wissa curled in a beauty with 68 minutes gone. Toney however played no part in either goal, and cut a frustrated figure.

Newcastle thought they had a penalty, when Lewis Hall sashayed through the Brentford defence and was clipped by Bryan Mbeumo.

However the VAR deemed it was outside the box. Mark Flekken could only parry Isak’s resulting free kick and man of the match Bruno tucked the ball away.