Malaga midfielder Jeremy Toulalan was surprised by Nacho Monreal's move to Arsenal.

Toulalan has backed Malaga, who head into the weekend fourth in the Primera Division standings and buoyed by last weekend's 3-2 win at Real Mallorca, to cope without the Spain full-back.

"It's always a shame when a member of the team leaves, but we were quite surprised at Nacho Monreal's exit," Toulalan said. "However, we've dealt with the departure of other players since the beginning of the season, like Santi Cazorla, but we've always overcome any situation.

"With respect to the players leaving, we can't really complain as we've achieved all our goals, and are in a better position than we were last year. We're through to the last 16 of the Champions League and fourth in La Liga, which we weren't this time last year."