Brentford head coach Thomas Frank praised the ability and mentality of Bees striker Ivan Toney after his call-up to the England squad on Thursday.

The inclusion in Gareth Southgate's squad came on the centre-forward's 27th birthday, and the day after he scored one goal and set up the other as Brentford beat Southampton 2-0 at St Mary’s.

Frank said that Toney 'truly deserves' the call-up to the Three Lions squad for the Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Italy and Ukraine.

“We are very proud and pleased and happy, especially on behalf of Ivan," said Frank.

“I think he truly deserves it. I said to him, in front of all the players this morning, how pleased we are as a club, how happy we are on his behalf, and how well deserved it is. 

“I don't know many people or players with his mentality, with a lot of things going on, his ability to focus on what is the most important thing - what happens out there on the grass - deserves huge and well-deserved praise.

"If you look at the goals and assists combined, he's third on that list in the Premier League, which is remarkable, with 20 goal involvements. 

“In that top 10, there are four Arsenal players, two [Manchester] City players, [Marcus] Rashford, [Mohamed] Salah, [Harry] Kane and Ivan Toney from Brentford. Wow.” 

Frank was then asked about how the striker found out about the call-up, which led to the Bees boss revealing how one of Toney's team-mates ruined the announcement!

“I went down and heard we got an email this morning from the FA. I said, ‘Yes!’ and that I wanted to go downstairs to speak to Ivan," Frank continued.

“And then I saw Saman Ghoddos and said ‘Saman, have you heard Ivan is in the squad?' - he said, 'Wow, okay'.

“So I went down, I went looking for [Toney], I went out into the eating area, found him, and said: ‘Congratulations! Did you know?'

“He said, ‘Yeah, Saman just told me!' He was very happy."

The Three Lions begin their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign against Italy in Naples on Thursday 23 March (7.45pm kick-off), before hosting Ukraine at Wembley on Sunday 26 March (5pm kick-off).

After his inclusion in Gareth Southgate's squad in September, Toney was the first Brentford player to receive an England call-up since Les Smith, who was a part of the side that faced Romania in 1939.

The only other Bees player to feature for the national team is Billy Scott, whose form for the club saw him called up to the England squad for an international against Wales in 1936.