What Happened to Arsenal Jon Toral? When Jon Toral and Hector Bellerin joined Arsenal from Barcelona’s youth team in 2011, there was a lot of excitement about the playmaker. What happened to him, and where is he now? Jon Toral, who was 16 when he joined Arsenal from Barcelona’s youth team in the summer of 2011, is now 28.
Toral’s name isn’t as well known among football fans as Bellerin’s, who signed at the same time. This is especially true for fans of clubs other than the ones he’s played for.
What Happened to Arsenal’s Jon Toral?
Jon Toral was under contract with Arsenal, but he spent time on loan at Brentford, Birmingham, Granada, and Rangers before being sold to Hull for £2.97m in 2017. During that time, he never played for Arsenal’s first team. Toral’s time at Arsenal was mostly ruined by problems with the meniscus in both knees that were present at birth.
“I was 16 at the time [I moved to Arsenal],” Toral said in 2019.
“I’d spent eight years at Barcelona and a scout at the Nike Premier Cup in Manchester, they saw me at Arsenal and then just contacted me to see if I wanted to come over and continue my career at Arsenal.
“It’s something that as a kid with my mum English and stuff I always watched a lot of Premier League football and that’s a dream just to make it to the Premier League and I saw that as a chance to doing that.
“16 to 18, yeah, those two years were really tough.
“My first one [surgery] was when I was still playing for Barcelona. Already signed for Arsenal.
“So to start at a new club with a knee injury and then having to have another surgery later on in the same knee and then knowing that the other knee needs surgery as well was a bit tough mentally because I was moving to a new country, a new club, and all you want to do is do well and impress.
“But I guess that’s just made me the player I am today as well, which made me feel, know how it feels and you’re not even able to train when all your teammates are training.
“It happened to be a genetic issue with the meniscus. Now it’s sorted, it’s been like, what, six years now no injury. Injury-free with my knees. So, touch wood, that continues that way and I’m quite comfortable with them now.”
Unfortunately, his next knee problem was right around the corner, and they seem to have messed up his career so much that, like with Jack Wilshere, we’ll never know what could have been.
In 2019, Toral had more problems and had to miss 28 games. Then he missed another three games because of a problem with his thigh. After he moved to Birmingham, hip problems kept him out for another seven games.
In 2021, he missed 75 days of work because of an unknown problem, and he just got back in shape before Christmas after being out for 44 days with a “bruise.”
Toral was let go by Birmingham last summer. He had signed with Hull for free the summer before. He only played 18 games and scored two goals and had two helpers. The boss of Birmingham, Lee Bowyer, chose to let him go.
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“It’s difficult but that’s football, very rarely do you have a footballer that plays their whole career at one club,” said Bowyer about a player who had played for four other clubs by this point, not including Arsenal.
“You can count on one hand how often that happens, especially in today’s game.
“It is difficult, not nice but players that will be leaving will move on hopefully to clubs that will work for them because obviously you want the best for them.”
Toral signed a deal with OFI Crete to play for them until 2024. In the Greek Super League, he played 25 times and scored eight goals and had two assists in the season that just ended.
The former Arsenal kid is their joint second most expensive player, with a market value of around €800,000. His value has gone up by €150k in the last six months.
Conclusion
Jon Toral, a 16-year-old who joined Arsenal from Barcelona’s youth team in 2011, is now 28. He spent time on loan at Brentford, Birmingham, Granada, and Rangers before being sold to Hull for £2.97m in 2017. Toral’s career was ruined by knee problems, causing him to miss 28 games, three more games due to thigh problems, seven more games due to hip problems, and 75 days of work in 2021. He signed a deal with OFI Crete until 2024, and his market value has increased by €150k in the last six months.
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