Ivan Toney received his first call-up to the England senior side on Thursday ahead of their September internationals.

For those in Brentford circles, this felt like a mere formality finally coming to fruition, a just reward for his 52 goals in 96 games for the Bees.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has almost universally adopted a policy of insisting he wouldn't tell international managers who to pick, but Toney's form in 2022 has seen him at least slightly reconsider that stance.

"[Harry] Kane is number one, but there is not a better [English] striker after Kane [than Toney] on form," Frank recently said after his star forward grabbed an aesthetically pleasing hat-trick against Leeds.

Toney enjoyed his start to life back in the Premier League (he made just two substitute appearances for Newcastle in 2015/16, so that doesn't really count) with a flourish last year, terrorising the likes of Ben White and Virgil van Dijk. However, he didn't pose the same threat in front of goal as he did in the Championship.

After a spell on the sidelines with injuries and Covid-19, Toney took his game to new heights in the new year, in part elevated by the creativity of new signing Christian Eriksen.