Let’s look back at a few of the absolute tosh Rangers signed back in the day, overhyping them as saviours (Rangers have been guilty as sin) and being disappointed by how rotten they ended up.
Enter former Arsenal kid Jon Toral, signed by Mark Warburton in early 2017 as part of a misguided belief that he could help fortify his SPL Rangers.
The Spaniard started out at Barca, and had a nomadic livelihood of the lower leagues in England following a childhood transfer to the Emirates before he arrived at Ibrox. Among others, the well-travelled youngster visited Birmingham, Grenada, Brentford (obviously), and obviously Arsenal’s various youth levels and found himself in Govan thereafter.
And for a few matches, we saw a technically impressive midfield holder, with a few fantastic balance and decent linkup with fellow January loan Emerson Hyndman.
Unfortunately, it just never really happened then.
In his defence he managed 3 goals and 3 assists in 15 appearances, which isn’t the worst from a central midfielder, but he didn’t have the stuff to actually assert himself at the shirt.
His loan expired that summer and he was back in the Emirates.
Hull, of all places. Yes, many of you might actually know he ended up with a half-decent gig and joined the Championship side in 2017, having amassed 50 outings with a respectable 10 assists and 4 goals in the engine room.
Toral definitely wasn’t the worst player we ever got on loan, but he’s another one who found the burden of expectation at Ibrox too much for him and he never actually sustained that promising early form.
While we wouldn’t just say his career is a roaring success, a life in the English Championship is pretty solid overall and even though Spain won’t call him any time soon (actually ), he will consider where he’s to be half decent total.
Although, it’s worth noting two months after he joined, Bread Man got fired…
