Arsenal have announced that Jon Toral is to spend the 2015/16 on loan at Birmingham City.
The 20 year old joined the Gunners at the same time as Hector Bellerin, and had a successful loan spell at Brentford last year. He played 37 games for the Championship side, scoring 6 goals.
It was enough to prompt Arsenal to take up the option of extending his contract for another season, which he will now spend in the midlands.
The midfield options at the club mean his chances of any meaningful football this season would have been pretty slim, so a loan move makes sense for all concerned.
Good luck to him at Birmingham, and we’ll see where his performances take him in relation to a new Arsenal deal in the future.
Goodluck to him
I don’t often admit to finding men attractive (I have this weird thing about David Tennant, although I think it’s just a phase), but if I were Giroud I’d be a little concerned that this young fellow was about to steal my place as Arsenal’s resident bit of continental crumpet.
He lacks the je ne sais quoi of Giroud….
Imagine a team with him, Hector, HFB, and Rambo! *swoon*
Yeah, but HFB is huge.
He also has a big body size too.
You know too much, Stillmatic!
How very dare you! Not a patch on Ollie G!
Be good to see him at senior level. Looks like Hayden’s off too, shame I think, would personally prefer he play over flamini should arteta and coquelin both get injured. Appreciate he has no experience but every time i’ve seen him he looks a really mature player.
It’s a shame he got injured last season, there was a chance to be taken and prove himself like Bellerin, but alas.
His injury was the season before last and it was less an injury in the usual on-the-pitch sense than a genetic knee problem (I think) which took several operations to fix. But I agree that it’s a massive shame that he lost over a year at such a crucial stage in his career. He’s always been a favourite of mine and had the talent to be another Bellerin, so I’m very, very sad for him. Birmingham is a step down from last season’s good, attacking Brentford but he said in the interview it was the best offer he got. Seems… Read more »
Just a sensible move. Hayden too. It’s their best chance of improving. Good luck both.
Exhiled: yes, what is it about David Tennant?! Asking for a friend…
Oh, I met him recently and he was just a very nice bloke, very charming. To be honest, I had a weird sort of crush on Henry for a while too, after I met him as a teenager (although I don’t think that’s uncommon among Gooners, especially around 2003). Nothing sexual, you understand (not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course), but I think it’s just a weird sort of hero worship which manifests itself in a slightly odd manner. Frankly, I’m so dosed up on anti-anxiety medication and cheap vino that it’s a miracle I can feel my… Read more »
His Mrs is hot, she’s on my top 10 list!
But I can honestly say I don’t find him at all attractive, although I get the impression he’s a nice guy and would be a decent drinking buddy, whereas HFB would not be as he’d spend all his time checking himself out in a mirror…….
Why not to Brentford again? Wouldn’t it save him the trouble of settling in, making friends etc. etc? Never understood why clubs tend to divest young players they loan out from the stability of going to the same team they were at the year before. If it didn’t work out for him there I’d get it, but it was rather successful. So why not do like in the Jenkinson situation, and send him back to Brentford for an extra year?
I just reread that comment and I have to say, it’s my most useless rant on anything ever. Intoxication must have played a big part in it, although, I’ve been laying off the liquor for a while. Got to be that bottle of milk then. I knew that shit tasted funny.
Did you let the milk sit? Milk will only turn into alcohol if you let it sit.
I let the milk sit last month, and now it’s preying on rats in the cellar.
One of the main reasons for sending youngsters out on loan is to get them out of there comfort zone, where they don’t have their mates to fill in their spare time and have to mix with new people. It makes them grow up, or else they can easily turn out as spoilt kids who’s rather spend their wealth with their mates rather that be professional. Although that’s far less of a problem with the non-English kids.
maybe Brentford did not want him, or like last season, would not give him many starts. Birmingham might have offered more certainty over game time. As Wenger stated last week, it makes a loan deal useless if the player don’t get enough games and they be better off staying here and training with the quality players we have.
Yeah I thought of this too, just a second after posting my comment. Shame though, I can’t imagine how anxious and tense it must make young players to change teams constantly and not see their career really take off at their club, season after season.
I don’t think he played 90 minutes for Brentford all season. At first I thought – well, hoped – that they were just giving him 15-20 minutes off the bench to protect him because of his previous knee problem, but then he didn’t get even five minutes in the crucial play-offs, so they can’t have rated him much. Odd, because he got goals for them, including at least one hat-trick, plus numerous assists in the minimal minutes he was let on the pitch. And despite barely playing at all pre-season for us – five minutes in one game? – he… Read more »
He didn’t look particularly convincing pre-season. Seems a bit anonymous and does not have the aggression. To me, Hayden made way more of an impression. I think neither Bielik nor Toral are ready for full first team and both could benefit on loan. Hayden is a difficult one. He looks useful but clearly he isn’t going to be the next world’s best DM. Also possible retention of Flamini should we not find anyone suitable for price. Again as I have mentioned, he is a far better player than many unfairly judge him to be and very useful given versatility, experience.… Read more »
Be intrigued to hear your justification for Hayden not going to be the world’s best DM?
Not that I think he is, just a strange thing to say for someone so young!
Far too early to make such a rash comment on hayden.
Hey guys.
Birmingham fan. Not really seen much of this lad but I hear good things. If he’s a CAM I’m sure he’ll get a lot of game time. LM is difficult with Demarai Gray. Anyway have a good season and do the double over Villa lol
He’s a tidy CM, but has the vision to play CAM.
Cheers mate. Good luck this year
Good luck against Villa. We’ll all be happy if you do the double over them and we do too 🙂