Ivan Toney hopes Saudi move will not end his England career

Ivan Toney has not given up on his England career, despite moving to Saudi Arabia this summer.

Toney quit English football to move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli on the final day of the Premier League transfer window last week.

As revealed by Telegraph Sport, the move to Saudi Arabia could see Toney land the UK equivalent of £1million a week after bonuses are taken into consideration.

But the huge cash windfall has not dampened Toney’s desire to keep playing for England and the striker is believed to be optimistic that he can still add to his six Three Lions caps.

He was part of England’s squad that reached the European Championship final and scored a no-look penalty in the successful shoot-out against Switzerland.

However, he is not part of interim manager Lee Carsley’s England squad for the Nations League games against Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday and Finland at Wembley next Tuesday.

The 28-year-old was not considered for the latest matches, having not played any club football this season because of his move from Brentford. He has also not trained fully.

But Toney will have trained fully and played ahead of England’s October Nations League games against Greece and Finland, which Carsley will also be in interim charge of.

Toney’s first game for Al-Ahli is against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr after the international break, with his new team-mates including Roberto Firmino and goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, whom he faced in the Premier League.

England short on strikers

Carsley is expected to keep a close eye on Toney ahead of those games with his limited striker options highlighted by the withdrawal of Ollie Watkins for the Republic of Ireland and Finland games.

With new Tottenham Hotspur signing Dominic Solanke also out injured, Carsley has somewhat surprisingly not called another striker into his first senior squad – even though Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin is fit and scored his first goal of the season at the weekend.

That would seemingly give Toney hope that moving to Saudi will not automatically end his England career, even though it contributed to midfielder Jordan Henderson missing out on the Euros.

Former England manager Gareth Southgate continued to pick Henderson during his short time in Saudi Arabia, but the former Liverpool star was not selected for the Euros after moving to Ajax in January.

Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman this week told former Tottenham Hotspur player Steven Bergwijn that his international career is over after moving to Saudi Arabia.

Bergwijn, who is 26, moved from Ajax to Al-Ittihad and Koeman said: “The book is basically closed. I think that when you’re 26, the ambition should be sporting and not financial.

“He could have stayed at Ajax, that’s not bad either. And I think they pay pretty well there too. Anyway, everyone has a different view and it’s their choice. I personally wouldn’t have made it.”