Swansea City have today confirmed that they have completed the record signing of striker Borja Baston for a £15.5m fee
Swansea City have today confirmed that they have completed the record signing of striker Borja Baston for a £15.5m fee.
The 23 year-old has signed a four-year contract and has completed his move from Spanish giants Atletico Madrid. A former youth product at Atletico, Borja has made an impact in La Liga on loan, scoring 18 goals for Eibar in 36 appearances last season, after netting 22 the year before for Real Zaragoza in Spain’s second tier.
He joins fellow Spanish striker Fernando Llorente, who completed his move on Friday. After signing a 2-year deal, the 31 year-old World Cup winner started in Saturday’s 1-0 home friendly win against Stade Rennais.
The double swoop of Borja and Llorente allows Andre Ayew to complete his move to West Ham United, with Swansea City to receive at least £20 for the Ghana international. Further add-ons could see that figure rise to £25m.
The fee paid for Llorente is not known, but it’s believed that the Ayew fee will more-or-less cover the combined fees paid for Llorente and Borja.
Llorente welcomes the arrival of fellow Spanish striker Borja, and that the competition for places will be good as he aims to perform well and earn another call-up to the Spain squad. He said:
‘He [Borja] is a good player, he will be important for Swansea. I need help from all the players and I need competition,’
‘My year in Sevilla was not very good for me but now I want to change this situation and score more goals for Swansea and show my best performance like I showed with Athletic Bilbao and Juventus.’
The arrival of Borja gives manager Francesco Guidolin a selection headache ahead of Saturday’s season opener at Burnley he might not have been expecting a week or two ago.
The Italian boss only had Ayew and youngster McBurnie to choose from during the pre-season friendlies, but he now has the luxury of picking between two excellent forwards, with different styles and strengths. Llorente, the taller and more experienced forward who’s excellent at holding the ball up and operating as a target man, plus Borja – the younger quicker striker with a prolific record in front of goal.
