League Two Wonderkid Left Out Of Squad As Newcastle Continue To Court Striker

Northampton Town's manager has revealed he left Ivan Toney out of his side's squad for the pre-season friendly with Brackley due to the speculation linking the forward with a move to Newcastle United. Both the Magpies and Wolverhampton Wanderers are reportedly chasing the 19-year-old, and Chris Wilder has claimed something could happen towards a potential move within the next "24-48 hours". Talks are said to be ongoing between the Magpies and Northampton, with a fee in the region of £300,000 likely to be agreed for the young forward.

Wilder - speaking to the Northampton Chronicle after the 3-0 victory over Brackley, a game in which he left Toney completely out of the squad - said:

"There€™s been some interest from Championship and Premier League clubs and we took the decision not to involve Ivan (Toney). "That will progress in time and if it does, we€™ll deal with that. If it doesn€™t, he€™ll be back as our player. "Quite a lot of things have to happen for a player to be transferred or move on and everybody has to sort their own part of the deal out. "Today we took the decision not to involve Ivan and we€™ll see what happens over the next 24-48 hours. "I can€™t speculate what€™s going to happen. We€™ll know more in the next 48 hours and I€™m sure we€™ll talk about it next week if anything has kicked on."

Toney has made 53 appearances for the Cobblers since he made his debut at the age of 16 back in 2012 and he has netted 11 Football League goals. He was the youngest player ever to represent Northampton and, due to his age, he could have significant sell-on potential for the Magpies. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow whatculture.com/NUFC on Twitter and Facebook.