Biography
A tall and elegant midfielder, Jon-Miquel Toral Harper joined the Tigers in August 2017 from Arsenal, having previously impressed against City while on loan at Birmingham City (for whom he netted a spectacular long shot against the Tigers) and Brentford. Toral took a few months to find his feet at the KCOM Stadium and his positive influence grew as the Tigers eased away from the relegation zone under the management of Nigel Adkins. He spent much of 2018/19 season injured or out of favour, making only sporadic substitute appearances while still showing glimpses of his impressive class. He returned to the first team in October 2019 and was quickly the centre of focus for two wins as his running and vision improved the whole team. Injury again hampered his first team progress and he returned to a first team in February 2020 that was struggling for wins. He played a peripheral role after the COVID-19 lockdown as the Tigers tumbled out of the Championship and left the club at the end of the elongated season. Toral was a very decent player, but ultimately 30 starts in three seasons was not a great return for City’s investment.
Born to a Spanish father and English mother in Reus, the Catalonian birthplace of Antonio Gaudi, Jon Miquel Toral Harper was the architect of a stellar footballing career from a young age, spending his formative teenage years at Barcelona. In July 2011 at the age of 16 he and Hector Bellerin switched from Barcelona to Arsenal, but Toral struggled to find first team opportunities for the Gunners and spent impressive season long loans at Brentford (2014/15 season, six goals in 37 appearances) and Birmingham City (2015/16 season, 8 goals in 38 appearances). He then joined Spanish side Granada for a half season loan in July 2016, scoring once in six appearances, then ended the 2016/17 season at Glasgow Rangers where he scored three times in 15 appearances.
In August 2020 Toral signed for Birmingham City but in his first season at St Andrews he made only 18 appearances and scored two goals, as injuries again affected his game time. He was released by Birmingham City in May 2021 and two months later he joined Greek Super League side OFI Crete. Toral scored three goals in 24 appearances in his first season with the Heraklion-based club and was retained for the 2022/23 season, teaming up with ex-Tigers colleague Nouha Dicko.
Toral’s parentage means he is eligible to play for both England and Spain, while at Arsenal he was called up for youth level squads by Spain but not capped.
Details
Nationality: Spain
Date/Place of Birth: 5 February 1995, Reus (Spain)
Hull City First Game: 25 August 2017, Bolton Wanderers H (Championship), 22 years, 204 days old
Hull City Final Game: 22 July 2020, Cardiff City A (Championship), 25 years, 168 days old
Clubs
Arsenal (2011-2017), Brentford (2014-2015, loan), Birmingham City (2015-2016, loan), Granada (2016-2017, loan), Glasgow Rangers (2017, loan), Hull City (2017-2020), Birmingham City (2020-2021), OFI Crete (2021-current)
Hull City Record
Career: 56 apps, 4 goals
Jon Toral| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | 16 (11) | 1 | 1 (1) | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2018/19 | 0 (8) | 0 | 1 (0) | 1 | 2 (0) | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| 2019/20 | 8 (6) | 0 | - | - | 2 (0) | 1 | - | - | - | - |