Jon Toral

Jon Miquel Toral Harper (born 5 February 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Indian Super League club Mumbai City.

A product of the Barcelona and Arsenal academies, Toral spent the 2014–15 season on loan to Championship club Brentford, the following season on loan to Birmingham City, also of the Championship, the first half of the 2016–17 season at La Liga club Granada and the second half at Rangers of the Scottish Premiership. He left Arsenal for Hull City in August 2017, before spending the 2020–21 season back with Birmingham City.

Club career

Barcelona

Toral was born in Reus, in the Province of Tarragona, Catalonia. He began playing football as a child with his local club, UE Barri Santes Creus, and signed for Barcelona in 2003, after being discovered by youth football coordinator Albert Puig. At Barcelona, Toral quickly forged a midfield partnership with Sergi Samper. The pair would play together for eight years and were referred to as the "Samper & Toral Limited Company" in the Spanish media. Toral was a part of the under-15 team which won the 2009–10 Manchester United Premier Cup. He departed Barça in the summer of 2011.

Arsenal

Toral caught the attention of Premier League club Arsenal while playing in England at the Manchester United Premier Cup in 2010. Along with Barcelona youth teammate Héctor Bellerín, he signed for the Gunners in the summer of 2011 for a fee reported as around £300,000; Barcelona president Sandro Rosell described the deal as "a little immoral". Toral began his career at Arsenal out injured with a damaged meniscus of his right knee, suffered in his final appearance for Barcelona in May 2011. After recovering, Toral made his debut for the reserves in a 2–0 Premier Reserve League defeat to Aston Villa on 30 November 2011, but was injured again in January 2012. Toral appeared for Arsenal in the 2012–13 NextGen Series and the 2013–14 UEFA Youth League, scoring two goals in five appearances in the latter competition. He broke into the reserve team during the 2013–14 season, scoring six goals in twenty appearances. Toral was called into the first team squad for pre-season friendly matches against Boreham Wood and New York Red Bulls in July 2014, making a start and a substitute appearance respectively. Toral spent the entire 2014–15 season away on loan and impressed sufficiently to be awarded a one-year contract extension. Toral was involved in Arsenal's pre-season tour of Singapore ahead of the 2015–16 season. He came on as a substitute against Singapore Selection XI on 15 July 2015 and won the penalty from which Chuba Akpom made it 3–0.

Brentford (loan)

Toral joined newly promoted Championship club Brentford on a season-long loan on 15 August 2014. After the signing, manager Mark Warburton said Toral was "an excellent addition to our group. This is a sign of the relationship we have with Arsenal and our continuing desire to add quality to our playing squad". Assigned the number 17 shirt, Toral made the first professional appearance of his career with a start in a 1–0 League Cup second-round defeat to West London rivals Fulham on 26 August; he lasted 63 minutes before being substituted by Toumani Diagouraga. He made his league debut in the following match against Rotherham United, coming on for goalscorer Andre Gray and assisting Nick Proschwitz for the Bees' second goal in a 2–0 win. After four further substitute appearances, Warburton commented that Toral had been outstanding in training and was pushing for a first-team start. He scored the first senior goal of his career with what proved to be a consolation in a 3–1 defeat to Bolton Wanderers on 25 October, just two minutes after coming on as a late substitute for Alex Pritchard. He scored his second goal with the opener in a 3–1 win at Nottingham Forest on Bonfire Night, shooting in the box through a crowd of players. Toral said in February 2015 that Griffin Park was "a great place to be now and I'm enjoying every minute of itevery game, every training session I'm learning". He scored the first senior hat-trick of his career to send the Bees on the way to a 4–0 victory over Blackpool on 24 February, and took his tally to four goals in three matches in a 4–1 defeat of Huddersfield Town a week later. He finished the season with 37 appearances and 6 goals, after the Bees' defeat to Middlesbrough in the playoff semi-finals.

Birmingham City (loan)

Toral joined another Championship club, Birmingham City, on 30 July 2015 on loan for the season He went straight into the starting eleven for the opening match of the season, a 2–1 win at home to Reading, and scored Birmingham's second goal with a header from Donaldson's cross. The following week, he opened the scoring after 10 minutes of the visit to Burnley with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area after Donaldson flicked on a clearance from the goalkeeper; the match ended 2–2. In September, he created one goal for Donaldson with an "astute through ball catching Bristol City's defence napping", and another via a penalty awarded for a foul on Toral for which the Bristol City manager thought he should have been booked for diving (association football)">diving