Borja and Amat head to exit too
SWANSEA City have given the strongest indication yet that record signing Borja Baston is heading for the Liberty Stadium exit door, and Jordi Amat looks set to follow suit.
Spanish striker Borja moved to South Wales last summer in a £15.5million move that eclipsed the Swans’ previous highest outlay of £12.5million for Wilfried Bony.
But the 24-year-old never threatened to make a similar impact to the Ivorian, with injuries disrupting his start to life in SA1 and Fernando Llorente going on to nail down the striking berth by hitting a fine run of form.
Borja ended up playing just 547 minutes of Premier League football, with just 79 of those coming under Paul Clement.
He managed just one goal in 20 appearances in all competitions, having briefly appeared to be on his way on deadline day in January when Villarreal showed interest in a man who had scored 18 goals in his last full season in La Liga.
Swansea are looking for the right move to offload their record acquisition. And defender Amat’s stint at the Liberty also looks to be drawing to a close.
“Borja Baston didn’t play many games last year, mainly due to Llorente’s good form, and Amat is another who didn’t play as often as he would have liked,” said Jenkins.
“It’s about finding something in the market that suits them — it could be a loan or a transfer.”
Amat has been with Swansea since joining from Espanyol in the summer of 2013 but has never been able to nail down a starting spot for any length of time.
Over his four seasons Amat has appeared in just 52 of a possible 152 Premier League fixtures, with another 20 outings coming in cup competitions.
He signed a new contract in January 2016 which runs through until the summer of 2019.
Swansea also have Mike van der Hoorn and Kyle Bartley, returning from an impressive loan spell at Leeds, among their defensive options, while Jenkins confirmed that the club are waiting to discover if former Chelsea captain John Terry is keen on a move to SA1 after Clement contacted his old Stamford Bridge colleague.
The club are planning to offer Llorente a new contract as they look to ensure they retain the services of their top scorer from the 2016-17 campaign, and they have enquired about the possibility of taking Chelsea striking starlet Tammy Abraham on loan.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Swansea are monitoring the situation regarding Fenerbahce’s Martin Skrtel, with central defender Alfie Mawson’s England Under-21 displays marking him out as a summer transfer target.
Youngster Mawson has been part of England’s unbeaten start in the European Championships, scoring the opening goal in the Three LIons’ 2-1 win over Slovakia on Monday.