Ivan Toney has become one of England’s highest-paid athletes of all time after completing his £40M transfer to Saudi Arabia side Al-Ahli, where the forward will reportedly earn over £400,000 a week – a wage only currently bettered by Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane.
The once hopeful Northampton Town academy striker’s rise to footballing prominence is incredible. Only four years have passed since Toney, the scorer of England’s third penalty during their EURO 2024 quarter-final shoot-out trump against Switzerland, was playing his trade for Peterborough United in League One, where he was considered little more than an exciting talent prospering in the lower depths of English football.
Yet the 6ft1’ forward made the transition from League One to the Premier League (with a brief goal-filled season in the Championship in between) look seamless in a way that few others do. After signing for Brentford in 2020, Toney has found the back of the net 36 times in just 85 Premier League appearances.
Toney attracted interest from Europe’s biggest clubs
By his admission, Toney was ready for the world stage. The forward regularly discussed on podcasts and interviews ambitions of leading the line for Europe’s biggest clubs and eventually replacing the ageing Harry Kane as England’s most dependable striker.
There was the sense that Toney had outgrown Brentford; no player has scored more Premier League goals for the West London club and speculation surrounding moves to Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, or Liverpool had been consistent throughout his time with the Bees.
Eventually, and perhaps partially due to a move to one of England or wider Europe’s top clubs failing to come to fruition, Toney opted to switch the Premier League for Saudi Arabia, a type of transfer unprecedented for elite-level English players still at the height of their powers.
It represents the first time an English Premier League sensation, still only 28 years old and in the process of defining the legacy they’ll have within the game, has chosen to turn their back on dreams of elite-level silverware and success, opting for an obscenely financially lucrative move to the Middle East instead.
Why Toney made the move to Al-Ahli
Toney, as an individual who’ll have his motivations, can’t be blamed for making the switch to Al-Ahli. After all, the forward, who endured mixed spells at Peterborough United, Barnsley, Shrewsbury Town, and Scunthorpe United during his early career, will know more than most how unpredictable football can be.
An injury, fall from grace, or, in Toney’s case, the exposition of another betting scandal, could make the type of money currently on offer entirely unattainable at any other point in his future career, making the eyewatering £400,000-per-week contract hard to refuse.
However, from the perspective of any football purist, Toney’s move to Al-Ahli represents one of many issues within the modern game. The threat of losing talent to largely uncompetitive leagues is abundant. It makes one wonder, had these types of opportunities been available to players at earlier stages of the Premier League era, which fondly remembered stars might have become forgotten, or which memories may not have been made, had players been tempted by lucrative Saudi Arabia contracts instead.
Toney’s current wage is higher than that of Ballon d’Or candidate Jude Bellingham, a player who, one would imagine, will have to refuse mouth-watering amounts of money throughout his career, if he is to become the titan-like figure of European football he dreams of being.