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Arsenal Have Jon Toral Conundrum To Deal With
By Josh Sippie
Jon Toral is impressing on loan for Birmingham City. With the January window coming up, what is best for Toral in terms of his Arsenal progression?
Arsenal’s loanees have been meeting with mixed reviews at their various clubs. Injuries have ravaged some while others have found some very valuable game time.
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Of all the loanees, however, the one that has to be the closest to competing for a spot on this Arsenal team is Jon Toral. The 20-year old Spaniard is currently on loan at Championship side Birmingham City. There, he has scored four goals and added two assists in 13 starts. He is one of the premier driving forced behind a potential promotion to the top flight and the experience of driving a team like Toral is currently doing is invaluable experience.
That is one side of the debate. The other side is what is going on back at the home front. Arsenal is in an injury crisis and the FA Cup is starting very soon. With so many midfielders (Francis Coquelin, Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta) out, would Arsene Wenger consider bringing Toral home to avoid making a signing?
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One or the other has to happen. Either a signing or Toral coming home. If rumors are true and Mohamed Elneny has signed, that’s a step in the right direction, but Arsenal is still actually short on attacking midfielders at the moment, something Toral can provide.
With so many injuries, the midfield is down to Aaron Ramsey. He may be an engine, but he cannot play every single game and he is very susceptible to injury. His hamstrings have caused him numerous problems in the past.
What Wenger needs to deduce is what exactly he thinks would be more beneficial to all parties. Letting Toral stay at Birmingham would be tremendous experience for someone so young. It would be a nice addition to his ever-growing skillset. But to bring him home, where he would certainly find at least some play time, could be just as beneficial, seeing as how Arsenal are pushing for the title. Either give him a big part to play on a smaller team or a small part to play on a big team. With both teams fighting for different levels of honors, it’s not an easy decision.
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Well, what does Jon Toral think?
“I am just focused on Birmingham.” He said, via Inside Futbol. “I am glad to have the minutes, and I want to keep helping the team to see whether we can achieve something important this season; and I am not thinking about anything else.”
It’s the perfect answer, he has been trained well. But the allure of helping Arsenal in a title run has to be on his mind. It’s not everyday that there is an opportunity for a 20-year old to step into a potentially important role at a big club like Arsenal. Toral need look no further than his long time friend Hector Bellerin for proof of that.
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I think the solution is to leave him at Birmingham. Arsenal may be thin at midfield but I do have a bit of faith that Wenger is going to do more about it than we think. Plus, pulling Toral back robs him of a chance to learn a tremendous amount of responsibility at Birmingham.