Ivan Toney has plead guilty to 'many' of the 262 charges against him, for betting on football matches, and will likely serve a ban this season.
Back in November, the Brentford striker confirmed that he was helping the Football Association with an investigation into 232 breaches of their betting rules.
The FA revealed Toney has been charged with misconduct for allegedly breaching FA rule E8, covering the period from 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021.
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He was left out of England's squad for the World Cup, though it was reportedly due to Gareth Southgate not being impressed with his training in the previous Nations League squad, and not the charges.
In December, the FA added 30 more breaches to their investigation, though the player was allowed to continue playing for his club whilst it went on.
Now, according to the Daily Mail, he has pleaded guilty to many of those charges, although he is set to contest some of them as well.
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A hearing from the FA is 'imminent' and is expected to lead to a ban for him, starting before the end of the current campaign, having already accepted some of the charges.
That means that, as well as missing for Brentford, he will once again not be in Southgate's squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Based on previous examples, there's a very good chance that Toney could face several months on the sidelines, without being allowed to play.
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Back in April 2017, Joey Barton was banned from the game for 18 months, after being found guilty of placing 1260 bets over a period of 10 years.
His ban was eventually reduced to five months on appeal, but he didn't play again, having been released by Burnley, later going into management.
Former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge was banned for four months and given a £150,000, after he was alleged to be passing on information regarding his own potential transfer.
Kieran Trippier was banned for 10 weeks for telling his friend to 'lump on if you want' regarding his transfer, though he didn't personally benefit.
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Toney has scored 14 goals this season, to help Thomas Franck's side reach ninth this season and is expected to attract interest from bigger clubs, especially once the charges and subsequent ban are out of the way.
Topics: Brentford, Premier League, Football
Ryan Sidle