Friday 18 December 2015 20:57, UK
Arsenal’s Jon Toral is impressing on loan at Birmingham City in the Championship. Ahead of their clash with Cardiff City live on Sky Sports 1 on Friday night, we caught up with the Spanish playmaker to talk promotion, Arsenal and his old friend Hector Bellerin…
When Jon Toral was a boy in Barcelona's academy, he had a habit of working himself to the point of complete exhaustion. "He's the only player I've known who has come off the pitch and fainted from effort," his former youth coach Andres Carrasco tells Sky Sports. "We were in the final of a tournament and he was giving everything. I decided to substitute him because he was really tired, and he had to go directly to the hospital. He was destroyed."
Carrasco coached dozens of rising stars from ages eight to 15 in La Masia between 1998 and 2011, but Toral was special. He uses the word fénomeno to describe the precocious playmaker, whose extraordinary work ethic was complemented by dazzling flair and a keen eye for goal in Barca's youth ranks. Toral idolised Frank Lampard growing up, and in an age group containing Hector Bellerin, Sergi Samper and Aston Villa's Adama Traore, he was captain.
He was a complete central midfielder. He shoots from range, he can finish, he has very high quality in the last pass, he can dribble and he is powerful. When I left him he was my best player and a leader.
Along with his close friend Bellerin, Toral was plucked from Barcelona by Arsenal at the age of 16 in 2011. And while a lot has changed for him since the day he ended a cup final in a hospital bed, he recalls the episode with a grin at Birmingham City's West Hills training ground. "I don't remember much of that game and that day but it was a Catalan Cup final against Espanyol," he tells Sky Sports. "We won… I don't remember it but we did!"
After helping Brentford reach the play-offs last season, Toral is now in the middle of a second Championship loan spell at Birmingham, who sit eighth ahead of Friday night's clash with seventh-placed Cardiff City. Toral has acclimatised to the rough and tumble of the second tier and been one of their standout players, scoring four goals in 16 league appearances including a headed winner on his debut against Reading.
The youngster has already started more games than in the whole of last season at Brentford, and manager Gary Rowett described him as "brilliant" after he came off the bench to inspire Birmingham's comeback against Preston on Tuesday. He will fancy his chances of returning to the starting line-up against Cardiff.
"I've been enjoying it a lot," he says. "For me it's a learning curve and this season I want to learn a lot. The start was good for us, we got into the top six and the play-off positions but we've been through a not-so-good patch. We want to bounce back and start winning games again."
Rowett has been impressed by Toral's "calmness and composure" as well as his quality, and his work ethic is also serving him well. "I think it's all about getting game-time," he says. "For me it's my second professional season so I just want to take on board everything the staff tell me, learn the league and get better."
Toral is relishing his time at Birmingham, but it hasn't always been easy for the youngster since his arrival in England. A string of knee injuries threatened to derail his career in his first two years at Arsenal, but numerous operations and lengthy spells on the sidelines have only enhanced his determination and his hard work was rewarded with a contract extension earlier this year.
"I'm so grateful to Arsenal," he says. "They helped me a lot through a time when I had a few injuries. They helped me and they always showed confidence in me, so I'm grateful for that and I just want to keep learning to see if I can go back there."
Toral, who has a Spanish father and an English mother, spent pre-season under the watchful eye of Arsene Wenger and over the course of last year he has watched his childhood friend Bellerin establish himself as a key player for Arsenal after spending time on loan at Watford in the Championship.
Their careers have taken different routes since they shared digs together in north London in 2011, but Toral is inspired by Bellerin's rise and hopes to follow a similar path. "With Hector I speak almost every day about how he is," he says. "He explains to me how everything is going and I explain how it is over here in Birmingham. We keep in touch. His family is here as well. I see him a lot."
But before his thoughts turn to breaking into Arsenal's first team, Toral is focusing on another Championship promotion battle with Birmingham. "I think you have to take it a little bit game by game because you don't want to put your hopes too high and be disappointed," he says. "But I was lucky enough to play in the play-offs last season with Brentford and I would like to do it again. Hopefully this time we can go up."
One thing is certain: Toral will give everything he has to make it happen… Even if it means waking up in a hospital bed.
Watch Birmingham v Cardiff live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7pm on Friday
