No Kane, no problem... don't forget about Toney the desert tiger, Tuchel

DURING England's five-week Euro 2024 camp in the rural east of Germany, Ivan Toney cut a relaxed figure.

- ANDY DUNN

When he came along for the occasional spot of media duty, he shunned official squad footwear and wore his own comfortable slippers.

He had brought them from home, presumably because he knew he would be spending a lot of time with them.

Toney first saw action when coming on as a 94th-minute substitute in the last-16 game against Slovakia and he then appeared as a 109th-minute substitute in the quarter-final against Switzerland before being given a run-out in the final, one minute before the end of normal time.

He made an impression, setting up Harry Kane's extra-time winner against Slovakia and converting his effort in the penalty shoot-out against the Swiss.

But, as he headed to Al-Ahli to take an obscene amount of Saudi Arabian money, that was the last we saw of Toney in an international shirt.

In the eyes of some managers and a lot of observers, going to Saudi is outrageously lucrative, but also an international retirement note.

And for the very fact a player has sold any principles to move to Saudi, that is no bad thing. But let's accept that footballing necessity alone drives international managers.

That is why there have been exceptions to the Saudi rule.