Rangers recruit Jon Toral and Emerson Hyndman to boost midfield

Jon Toral may feature for Rangers this week. Picture: Getty.

Hyndman, a 20-year-old midfielder, was first to arrive, landing yesterday afternoon having played the first 56 minutes of Bournemouth’s shock FA Cup third-round defeat by Millwall the previous day.

But the United States Under-20 captain has made only two other appearances for the English Premier League side since joining from Fulham in the summer.

Toral was an unused substitute in Granada’s 5-0 defeat by Real Madrid on Saturday evening. The Spanish  midfielder is on loan at the  La Liga club from Arsenal but has made only six appearances after agreeing a half-season loan.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has already confirmed talks with Rangers over re-locating Toral to Ibrox for the second half of the season. The 21-year-old having had loan spells at Brentford – where he worked with Rangers manager Mark Warburton – and Birmingham City previously.

Warburton hopes to add to his midfield options by tying up Hyndman and Toral, providing they pass medicals, having already lost summer signings Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar, the former on a permanent basis. Both Hyndman and Toral could feature in Rangers’ away friendly against RB Leipzig this weekend.

Meanwhile, Stuart McCall has described the current gap between Rangers and Celtic as “alarming” and believes stopping their rivals win a record ten-in-a-row titles could be as good as it gets for the Ibrox club in the near future.

The Bradford City manager was at Hampden yesterday and admitted his fears for the Ibrox side, as Celtic look to establish an era of success under Brendan Rodgers.

McCall was a member of the Rangers team that 20 years ago emulated Celtic’s record of nine successive titles. But he warned it could be several years before Rangers can  realistically hope to finish above Celtic again – and even then this challenge will require serious funding.

“It’s got to be the target, it’s got to be,” said McCall, with reference to stopping ten-in-a-row. “Because that’s what football is about up here, that rivalry, so it has to be the aim for Rangers.

“We can talk about youth structures and progression, which you’ve got to do,” he added. “But, if Rangers do happen to stop Celtic before they get nine or ten, there will have to be a huge financial input.

“Each season, it will build and build. I’m just hoping they’ve got a transfer war chest somewhere, building and building – so they can go and buy Messi and Ronaldo to stop Celtic!”