Why Aston Villa were right in signing Borja Baston on deadline day

According to Wales Online (h/t Birmingham Live), Aston Villa announced the signing of Swansea City’s Borja Baston just nine minutes before the 11 pm deadline on the final day of the transfer window, with the club taking over the Spaniard’s contract for the next five months. He was the second striker to be signed by Villa following Mbwana Samatta last month.

Baston, 27, who came through the youth ranks of Atletico Madrid, has been on several loan spells in his entire professional career after failing to breakthrough. He enjoyed spells with clubs like SD Huesca, Deportivo La Coruna and SD Eibar before joining Swansea City in 2016.

After a year at the Liberty Stadium, he was on his way out on loan spells again before joining Villa. In 41 games for the Swans, Baston scored 7 goals.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa are just one place above the relegation zone with a point more than West Ham United in the same number of games. Despite making a number of signings last summer, Dean Smith’s side haven’t been able to cope with the pace of the Premier League.

With summer signing Wesley Moraes set to be out of action until the end of the campaign, the Villans brought in in-form striker Samatta from Genk. In fact, he scored on his debut for the club in a 2-1 loss to Bournemouth last weekend.

On the other hand, Borja Baston has joined from Championship side Swansea City for the next five months. And that is a good move since Jonathan Kodija was far from convincing and was sold to Qatari side Al Gharafa last month.

Borja Baston has not been a prolific goal-scorer in his career but he has scored at a decent rate everywhere he has played. He started the season well, scoring 5 goals in as many games for the Championship side but later, fell down the pecking order.

The 27-year-old was at his best in the 2015/16 season with SD Eibar in La Liga, where he scored 18 goals in 36 games.

Verdict

At the moment, the Villans have enough strikers to bolster their attack. Although Baston may not get to start easily, he is more than capable of being a back-up. Therefore, Villa have made the right choice by signing the Spaniard to help them for the rest of the season.