Ivan Toney is back. Thomas Tuchel has included him in the England squad for the World Cup qualifier against Andorra and the friendly against Senegal — his first call-up since Euro 2024.
The 29-year-old forward left the Premier League in August, signing for Saudi Arabian side Al Ahli for €40million (£33.6m; $45.4m), which made him the first footballer to play in each of England’s top four divisions and the Saudi Pro League (SPL).
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But while his move to the Middle East was well covered, less attention had been paid to his form since he left — and it has been a strange year for him.
When he joined Al Ahli, he was greeted by familiar faces. Edouard Mendy, Roberto Firmino and Riyad Mahrez, formerly of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, had signed previously, as had Franck Kessie and Merih Demiral, the Ivory Coast and Turkey internationals.
And Toney’s first season, as evidenced by Tuchel’s decision to recall him, was a success. The headline is that he scored 22 goals in 29 SPL appearances, just two fewer than Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo, the league’s top scorer.
That only tells half the story, though, because Toney was not greeted with open arms at the end of last summer, nor did he create a wholly positive first impression.
“There were concerns when he first came in for a few reasons,” says Wael Jabir, a Riyadh-based football journalist. “First, because he was coming in to replace Firas Al-Buraikan, who is the Saudi national team striker and had scored 17 league goals for Al Ahli last season.
“He was a very well-established player and so (Toney’s move) fitted into one of the hottest topics in the Saudi football discourse — foreign players coming in to take the place of Saudi players in teams.
“It’s something we’ve seen with the influx of foreign stars. National team players have been getting less and less time on the pitch, especially at Al Ahli and other top clubs.”
Ivan Toney in Jeddah in September 2024 (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)
Many fans believed his new team did not need a new forward and even if they thought reinforcements might be useful, Toney was not the first choice.
The main target had been Victor Osimhen, now on loan at Turkish side Galatasaray from Napoli. Al Ahli had agreed terms with Osimhen before Toney’s transfer. The Nigeria striker was the bigger name, had the bigger reputation and captured fans’ imagination far more.
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“For them to go and sign Toney was seen as a bit of a disappointment,” says Jabir.
Tactical fit was a further concern. Al Ahli are coached by Matthias Jaissle, a 37-year-old German and a product of Red Bull’s multi-club system. Jaissle held youth-coaching positions in Leipzig and was a head coach at Red Bull Salzburg before moving to Saudi Arabia in 2023, bringing with him an intense style, typical of his coaching background.
“Toney is not the most mobile of strikers,” Jabir says, “and fans questioned whether he’d be the right fit, especially with Riyad Mahrez on the right, who is also not that suited to playing that way.”
Physically and culturally, there were further hurdles to overcome.
“He didn’t really adapt well at the start for a few reasons,” Jabir says. “He hadn’t had a proper pre-season with Brentford or Al Ahli, so he needed time to get his match fitness back.
“He seemed a bit sceptical of the sporting aspect. It took a while for him. It was probably only after he had been involved in the first couple of derby games against Al Ittihad, Al Nassr and Al Hilal, where he saw the big rivalries in the league, that he had started to buy into it.
“There were quite a few clips that you started to see online where he would be engaging with the fans, taking in the culture, and just looking more and more comfortable in his surroundings — and that translated into his form.”
🚨🚨 ايفان توني بحماسس كبير جدًا مع جماهير الأهلي قبل مواجهة الهلال 🟢🔥! https://t.co/PlaqZMKx3d pic.twitter.com/hXkvfsI3Zr
— شبكة الأهلي (@AFC4NET) April 28, 2025
One of Toney’s best moments of the season came in one of those derbies, against Al Hilal in February. He scored twice to put his side 2-0 up, only to be pulled back to 2-2. But he sealed his hat-trick in the 87th minute, firing past former Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to give his side the win.
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“In the second half of the season, he was a completely different player. I had criticised him a lot, but from February, he was changed. The challenge of competing for the Asian Champions League was important too.”
Having scored three times in his first 10 SPL games between September and December 2024, he became prolific in the new year, scoring 19 in his next 19 league games.
Al Ahli are an established power in Saudi Arabia but they are not dominant.
“They have a similar stature to Arsenal in the UK,” Jabir explains, “but they last won the league in 2016. Before that, they had a 30-year drought; their last title had been in 1986.
“They had been to the AFC Champions League final once in 2012, but lost (3-0 to Ulsan Hyundai). And in 2022, they suffered their worst nightmare: relegation.”
They were promoted back the season after, the year that funding from the Saudi Public Investment Fund boosted the SPL. The seasons since have been about re-establishing the club’s ego — a mission that has been accomplished.
This month, Al Ahli and a resurgent Toney won the AFC Champions League, beating Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 in the final in their home city of Jeddah. In the semi-final they beat Al Hilal again, 3-1 this time, with Toney scoring in the first half.
Toney, bottom left, after Al Ahli won the AFC Champions League (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)
It was a breakthrough for the club. They became Asian champions for the first time, banishing whatever misgivings there had been about Toney.
“They were desperate for this triumph so that they could reestablish themselves within the elite Saudi Arabian football,” says Jabir. “And the role Toney’s played made him a fan favourite as well.”
It has also led him back to the England squad and an international career many presumed was in the past.
(Top photo: Ivan Toney with his AFC Champions League winner’s medal on May 3, 2025; by AFP via Getty Images)
