Borja Baston: Swans boss not closing door on expensive striker

Published on: 21 July 2019

Borja scored 18 goals for Spain at youth level in 27 appearances, finishing as top scorer at the 2009 under-17s World Cup

Swansea City manager Steve Cooper has not ruled out the possibility of forgotten striker Borja Baston being part of the squad for the new campaign.

Spanish striker Baston, 26, was a late substitute in Saturday's 3-1 friendly win over Exeter City.

It was Borja's first Swansea appearance since May 2017 following his 2016 record £15.5 move from Atletico Madrid.

He has made just 20 Swans' appearances, spending the last two seasons on loan at Malaga and Alaves respectively.

Cooper would not rule out Baston being part of the squad which starts the season, even though the club have made no secret of their desire to offload the player.

"The chairman has said that publicly," said Cooper. "But until such time that bridge is there to be crossed we will work with him and we are getting every single player ready for the start of the season. Everybody in the building is part of that."

To date, Swansea have only recruited defender Jake Bidwell on a free transfer from Queens Park Rangers since the end of last season and have seen star player Daniel James depart for Manchester United, while top scorer Oli McBurnie is wanted by Sheffield United.

But Cooper will have to wait to make signings to improve his small squad.

With finances tight, Swansea will rely on loan recruits - ideally from the Premier League - to strengthen.

"It's about it happening [at all] and not when," he told BBC Sport Wales. "I would like to think we are not that far away from one or two coming in."

Cooper says circumstance is making it hard to bring loan players in at the moment.

"We have talked publicly about maximising the loan market, but the big boys are out in Europe at the moment playing in tours," he added.

"So, when they start returning hopefully we can see one or two faces coming in and add to the good things already going on."

Swansea continue their pre-season campaign at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday, 23 July.

Source: bbc.com

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