Arsenal: Jon Toral a hidden solution to a glaring problem

Arsenal has not been entirely fair to Jon Toral, but they can make amends for that while simultaneously solving a massive problem.

Arsenal has always been about promoting from within. Arsene Wenger looks internally for solutions before he goes off making purchases. Or at least, that’s the idea. There have been some exceptions (Serge Gnabry, Joel Campbell).

Jon Toral cannot become another exception. Toral has had loan after loan and given the shortage of midfield options, it’s clear where he should be right now – back at Arsenal. And that has always been the goal.

Even in the midst of his player of the year campaign at Birmingham City, he still maintained his endgoal – to get back into the Arsenal first team.

After that stellar loan, rather than getting a chance, he was the first to be loaned out yet again, this time to bottom-feeding Granada, who never even played the guy. It was a complete waste of half of a season and, again, rather than coming back home, where we were in need of midfield options, he was instead sent to Rangers.

Fair enough, the loan has been solid and Toral has been keen to point that out:

"It’s been great for my development, I feel like I have learnt to play another style of play and another position as well – that will always help me for the rest of my career. I think I’m going back having improved, I try to learn from every season and every loan that I have and I think I have done that here so I am very grateful to the club and the staff."

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Toral got off to a rough start with the Scottish side but has since become regular, playing the full 90 minutes in six of his last ten matches and at least 70 minutes in nine of the last ten.

Midfield is going to be a problem yet when his loan runs up. The Gunners are starved for options in a 3-4-3 that desperately needs options. They are currently limited to Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny, Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey.

Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil‘s future’s are in jeopardy, there could be a massive opening at the front two positions as well, unless you want to bank on Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi, which I’m not too keen to do.

Toral can fit all four positions and he has proven it time and again. He has solid pace, size, technical ability, ball-winning skills, everything. Plus, he fits in that mold of player types that Arsenal desperately needs right now – players who are eager to prove themselves and hungry to improve.

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That has been Toral’s endgoal since the loan game began. A midfield signing or two would be nice this summer, but just because we are desperate for answers doesn’t mean we should rule out the potential solutions that we already have.