Borja’s exit is a no-brainer. It will save the Swans around £1.2 million

BORJA Baston’s Swansea City career came to an end on transfer deadline day. The Spaniard secured a shock move to Premier League side Aston Villa on a free transfer.

Some fans have questioned the Swans’ willingness to let the striker join Dean Smith’s side for nothing, although it’s Borja’s wages that were the big problem for the club.

It’s understood the Villans agreed to pick up Borja’s contract for the remainder of the 2019/20 season, meaning he could still be without a club after June when his Swansea deal was due to expire.

But for the Swans, once Villa were interested, it was a no-brainer that Borja should depart.

When you combine his efforts from the 2016/17 and 2019/20 campaigns, Borja played 1,983 minutes of action for the Swans.

To put that into context, it’s the equivalent of 22 90-minute matches. Swansea played 75 matches in all competitions during the periods Borja was actually at the club.

Even after a blistering start to life under Steve Cooper, Borja’s form soon dipped and he quickly fell behind Sam Surridge and then Rhian Brewster in the pecking order.

He leaves the club having scored seven times in 41 appearances across his two seasons in South Wales – with the Spaniard having two full campaigns in his native Spain on loan at Malaga and Alaves.

Having been signed for a then club record fee of £15.5m from Atletico Madrid, it means Borja’s strike rate came at a staggering cost of £2.2m per goal.

However, his limited game time saw him leave with a goal every 3.14 games for Swansea, which isn’t the worst of records considering how great his struggles have been.

So how much have the Swans actually saved by offloading the former Spain Under-19 international?

Having left on deadline day, Borja had exactly five months left on his Swansea contract before he made the surprise switch to Villa Park.

It means the Swans will save in the region of £1.2m in wages having offloaded Borja.

Then of course there are the other men who departed, including Tom Carroll, Cian Harries and Kristoffer Nordfeldt. So all things considered, Swansea have significantly reduced the wage bill, largely thanks to Borja’s exit.

Swansea paid a loan fee to secure the services of Brewster on loan from Liverpool while Marc Guehi and Conor Gallagher also arrived on a temporary basis from Chelsea.

But after a total of nine players departed in January - either on loan or permanently - the Swans are in a significantly healthier financial position now than they were before the window.

Speaking about the winter market after the 1-1 draw with Preston at Deepdale, Cooper said: “We did what we needed to do early on. We hit the ground running as soon as the window opened.

“I know we’ve brought three players in. But we were never going to be a club that was going to spend loads of money.

“If anything we’re looking to save money, and without saying too much that I shouldn’t, I think that is the case now.

“We have been creative, we’ve got players in, but I think the club might be in a better financial position with the business that we’ve done. That’s where we’re at.”