£50m Ivan Toney's bizarre first season at Chelsea predicted as transfer talk continues

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Football Manager 2024 predicts how England striker Ivan Toney will fare if he completes a move to Chelsea before the summer transfer window closes.

Chelsea’s search for another striker has reportedly led them to approach Premier League rivals Brentford over a possible late deal for England international Ivan Toney.

Despite what has already been a ridiculously busy summer transfer window at Stamford Bridge, the Blues are believed to be keen on conducting further business at the top end of the pitch and are said to be in talks over a big money move for Napoli striker Victor Osimhen. However, Toney is viewed as just one alternative should the move for the Nigeria star fall through in the final days of the window. So that got us wondering - just how would Toney fare if he was to make the relatively short switch across London to become the Blues latest big name signing?

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We fired up Football Manager 2024, updated the Blues squad and included Toney in a late deal and allowed the world’s most popular managerial simulation to predict how his first season at Stamford Bridge would play out.

Premier League

After using the editor to allow Toney to join Chelsea in a £50m deal on the final day of the window, the Blues new boy was named on the substitutes bench for a home game with Everton less than 24 hours after completing his move to Stamford Bridge. That really set the tone for his introduction to life with the Blues as he played backup to Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson during his opening month with the club. There was one bright spot for the England international as he came off the bench to score his first goal for the club with a winning goal in a 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace.

However, following that high came two massive lows as Toney saw red in his next game for a two-footed challenge on Fulham defender Calvin Bassey as his side suffered a 4-1 defeat at Craven Cottage. Another blow was suffered two weeks later as Toney prepared to make his comeback in an away game at Manchester United as he was struck with a torn hamstring in training that ruled him out of action for three months.

After marking his comeback with a goal in an FA Cup fourth round win at Bristol City in the new year, Toney returned to bench duty for Premier League draws at Aston Villa and former club Brentford - but an injury to Jackson saw him finally earn a regular run of starts and he rewarded Maresca by helping his side to a serious upturn in form by scoring seven goals in ten games as the Blues went unbeaten during that period. The high point for Toney was a brace in a 3-2 win over champions Manchester City that saw Chelsea move into the top four - a position they retained until the final weekend of the season when a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United was enough to claim a return to the Champions League.

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FA Cup

Toney missed the third round home win against MK Dons as a much-changed Chelsea side strolled to a 6-1 win against the League Two club. However, he was back in the side by the time fourth round weekend came around and, as mentioned earlier, scored in a 4-2 win at Championship side Bristol City. The England international was handed another start as Chelsea travelled to Aston Villa in the firth round - but made little impact as an Ollie Watkins goal was the difference between the two sides and that ensured one route to silverware was brought an end at Villa Park.

Carabao Cup

Toney was not even in the matchday squad when Chelsea kicked off their Carabao Cup campaign with a third round home tie against Middlesbrough. A youthful looking Blues side took the lead with a goal from summer signing Marc Guiu - but eventually fell a 2-1 defeat against the Championship club as Michael Carrick’s side progressed with second-half goals from Emmanuel Latte-Lath.

Europa Conference League

Toney played no part in a two-legged play-off round win over St Gallen - but was registered by the time the league stage of the competition got underway. The competition proved to be something of a fleeting success for Toney as he was initially handed the responsibility of leading the Blues line and he hit immediate form when he scored a hat-trick in a 7-0 home demolition of Omonia Nicosia. However, the hamstring tear that disrupted his introduction into life at Chelsea also brought an end to his impact in the Conference League. After selecting an increasingly youthful squad in the competition, Maresca’s side exited when they could only claim a 1-1 draw at Legia Warsaw on the final matchday of the league phase.

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