Arsenal Confirm Former Barca Starlet Has Signed Contract With Club

Arsenal have confirmed this afternoon on Arsenal.com that former Barcelona youngster Jon Toral has signed a professional contract with the club.

Toral was snapped up last summer from Barca’s famous La Masia youth academy as a 16-year-old and was placed on scholarship terms. He’s recently turned 17 and has impressed during his time at the club, and Arsenal have now confirmed that they have secured the midfielders long-term future.

Of course the Spanish youngster has drawn comparisons to a certain Cesc Fabregas, and if he can go on to become even half the player Cesc became at Arsenal then we should all be very grateful.

He’s had a good start to life with the Gunners, netting three goals in 12 appearances for the Under-18’s and he’s recently been promoted to the reserves squad, so it looks like he’s heading in the right direction. Not quite as fast as Fabregas, but he was a one-off in my opinion.

Cesc broke in to one of the best teams in the world (the Invincibles) as a 16-year-old, so Toral has some big shoes to fill that for sure! But i wish him good luck and hope to see him break in to the first team set up in the coming years.