Paco Toral

Career
Barcelona is where Toral worked his way through as a youngster. He gained his professional contract at the Camp Nou in the 27/28 season where he played for the reserves side Barcelona B. In the January of that season, Barcelona decided to place him on the transfer list as it was looking as though he wasn't going to be good enough for La Liga. Gateshead saw the youngster on the transfer list and decided to give him a scout, which came back with huge potential so for the first time in Ireland's reign at the club, they spent money on a transfer fee. The agreed deal came to £1.4 Million which was a huge amount of money to gamble with. He played the second half of the season, mostly off the bench. Finishing the season with 16 appearances under his belt, he seemed to impress Ireland how he adapted so quickly to the set up in North East England. For the 28/29 season, he was loaned out to MK Dons to get some regular football. He played 45 games, scoring 5 and assisting 4 but it still resulted in relegation from the Championship. After his good season away on loan, Ireland decided to bring him into the first team and he did very well throughout the 29/30 season. Scoring 1 and also assisting 1, he ended up averaging a 7.08 from deep in midfield which helped towards the Championship league title victory. After the promotion, Toral thrived in the Premiership, providing 5 assists in only 30 games and also helping the club reach the Europa League. The next season saw him help the team to Europa League success after his 40 appearances that year saw him hold a valuable role as a secure deep midfielder. The next two seasons were even better. Helping Gateshead win the Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League, it saw him get just over 200 appearances for the club in the 6 seasons he played in.