COMMENT Amid all the noise, Ivan has kept his head and is now ready to carry on defying odds

TO sit with Ivan Toney at his home was to chill with a striker keeping his head – as the noise around him reaches a crescendo.

After eight months out of the game, which must have seemed like an eternity for him, here was a man focused on the things he could control.

A man dreaming of a match-winning goal against Nottingham Forest on January 20 and subsequent momentum that he hopes will lead to this summer’s Euro finals after the investigation around his gambling issue ruled him out of the Qatar World Cup.

For some, Toney’s refusal to discuss the ways in which he has addressed it will remain an issue. Others, particularly those with a personal insight, will feel that it is best dealt with away from the media gaze, a day at a time.

The 27-year-old appeared in fantastic physical condition after being the beneficiary of an intense training regime out in the USA – specially arranged by agents, the Stellar Group.

That would be confirmed with his stunning Saturday hat-trick for Brentford B team against Southampton’s Under-23s.

If he is to be the man to shoot the Bees out of their ugly run of seven Premier League defeats in their last eight then Toney is most definitely ready.

If it is to be that either Arsenal,

Chelsea, Manchester United or maybe even an ambitious Aston Villa will invest in him to address their offensive shortcomings, the striker star is also ready. And yet his sharpness would not be my big takeaway from our time together at the heart of his close circle.

Here was a man for who his absence from the game was an opportunity to focus on the things that matter to him.

The family that picked up the pieces after his world was shattered by that independent panel suspension last May.

Dad, Ivan snr, kept the striker’s head straight and continued as a guiding light, both in his son’s life and his football career.

The marksman’s mental health was paramount and it was an opportunity to address, away from the media gaze, the issues that led to one of the longest bans for a Premier League player for many a year.

And it gave him an idea of life beyond a playing career during which he has defied the odds.

The nightmare that had cost him a World Cup in Qatar and half a season of football could easily have left Toney lashing out at the world and railing against officialdom.

Instead, surrounded by his kids and his loved ones, he is at peace, focused on that Brentford home game against Forest.

Others can debate if he can simply drop straight into a battlehardened Premier League mid-season or if he is worth the Bees’ reputed £100million asking price.

After a long ban preceded by an even lengthier investigation, Toney’s hell is over. Now he is ready to focus on football.