Toralpromisesto helpRangersbeat Celticatlonglast
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Jon Toral, the Arsenal midfielder who yesterday joined Rangers on loan until the end of the season, last night pledged to help the Ibrox club end Celtic’s winning run in the Old Firm game.
The 21-year-old watched videos of some of the Glasgow club’s matches after learning of their interest in signing him – and has seen footage of their meeting with their city rivals last month.
Mark Warburton’s side has lost all three of its fixtures against Brendan Rodgers’s team so far during a difficult 2016/17 campaign.
However, they are set to meet twice in the Ladbrokes Premiership in the coming months – at Parkhead on March 12 and then at Ibrox after the top-six split.
Toral, who has spent the first half of the season on loan at La Liga club Granada in his native Spain, is hopeful he can help Rangers to triumph in those outings.
“I watched the highlights of the Rangers games before I came to get an idea of what Ibrox is like,” he said. “I watched the game against Celtic. When I saw the atmosphere at Ibrox, I just thought ‘wow’.
“It’s something I want to use in my favour. I want to deal with it and hopefully it will make me a better player. You don’t get 50,000 fans every week at most clubs in the world. It’s a big deal. I’ll enjoy it a lot.
“Knowing how big that fixture is and having the possibility of being involved in it is amazing. I can’t wait. I will try to help the team win those games. I am here to win every game I play.
“It will be difficult to catch Celtic so we want to finish as high as we can in the league. The cup is obviously massive for us and we want to win that too.”
Toral – who worked under Warburton during a successful loan spell at Brentford, who he helped reach the Championship play-off semi-finals, two seasons ago – has been signed until the end of the season subject to international clearance.
He is hopeful that his temporary move is processed in time for him to be involved in the friendly against RB Leipzig, the club sitting second in the Bundesliga, in Germany on Sunday.
“I hope it comes through as it would be a great experience to play against them in my first game for Rangers,” said Toral.
“Even though it’s only a friendly, it would be a good game to be involved in.”