Rangers have signed Spanish midfielder Jon Toral on loan from Arsenal until the end of the season, subject to international clearance. Toral, 21, spent the first half of the season on loan at Granada and has previously been loaned to Brentford and Birmingham City. On Monday, Rangers signed Bournemouth's American midfielder Emerson Hyndman on loan until the summer. "I'm really happy to be here and I can't wait to get started," said Toral. The Ibrox club are due to play RB Leipzig in a friendly on Saturday.
The trip to Germany comes during Rangers' winter break, with their next domestic fixture the Scottish Cup meeting at home to Motherwell on 21 January. Their Premiership campaign resumes against the same opposition, but at Fir Park, on 28 January. Toral, who played six times for La Liga side Granada, previously worked with Rangers manager Mark Warburton at Brentford. The Spaniard scored 14 times across his spells at Griffin Park and St Andrew's but has yet to play a competitive in Arsenal's first team, having joined in 2014. Toral enjoyed working with Rangers manager Warburton at Brentford.
"I hope I can get to the game in Germany, if not the cup game next week," added Toral, who joins a Rangers team currently second in the Premiership. "I know Gedion Zelalem had a great time here last season when he was on loan from Arsenal, so that was on my mind. "I spoke to [former Rangers and Arsenal player] Mikel Arteta as well and he told me I would enjoy my time here, so that helped me take the decision.
Mark Warburton came out to Spain and had a chat and it was great to catch up. He said I would enjoy it a lot and I know I'm going to enjoy playing under him again because I really did have a nice time with him at Brentford. Mark plays a very similar to style to the way we do at Arsenal. Arsene knows Mark quite well and knows he's a very good manager, so he's very keen to send players to teams that Mark manages. "My personal objective is just to help the team finish as high as we can. I want to get as many minutes as I can and finish the season strong. "I have another year left on my contract at Arsenal and I hope I can go back and make the step up to the first team."
