Mark Warburton has another new face to his squad today as the club confirmed the signing of Spanish midfielder Jon Toral on a loan deal until the end of the season. Toral moves north from Arsenal after the Gunners cut a loan deal with Granada short after he struggled to get regular first team football in Spain.
The 21-year-old has also had loan spells at Brentford, where he worked with Mark Warburton, and Birmingham City, picking up the Blues’ Player and Goal of the season awards after moving to Arsenal in 2011 with then-Barcelona teammate Hector Bellerin for a fee of around £300k.
Toral joins Emerson Hyndman as Warburton looks to get his January transfers done early in a bid to get the players bedded in before the return of competitive football on January 21st.
While it’s expected that Hyndman will return to parent club Bournemouth in the summer, Toral’s Arsenal contract expires at the end of the season and a permanent move for the Catalan could happen in June.
Toral completed his medical yesterday after arriving in Glasgow Tuesday and will link up with his new teammates for the first time today before they travel to Germany for Sunday’s friendly with RB Leipzig.
Toral will wear the number 8 jersey vacated by Joey Barton.