Borja Baston is a former Aston Villa player in the same way that Cate Blanchett was part of the Hot Fuzz cast. A blink-and-you miss it cameo. An answer that, on BBC’s Pointless, would almost guarantee that you’d be going home with a cash prize.
Baston’s time at Villa Park, after all, amounted to just 16 minutes of action spread across two outings.
A striker who once cost Swansea City a club-record £15 million immortalised forever in snackable listicles with titles like ‘The Top Ten Most Forgettable Aston Villa signings’. Sandwiched somewhere between Michael Boulding and Gustavo Bartlett.
But, for the first time since his breakthrough season at Eibar all the way back in 2015/16, Borja Baston is banging in the goals once again. In fact, no one in the Spanish second tier has scored more that the one-time Atletico Madrid man this season.
Baston has 15 from 27 games. A record better than one-in-two.
He is leading the Golden Boot race, alongside former Middlesbrough targetman Cristhian Stuani and the evergreen, 40-year-old Ruben Castro.
Should Borja fire promotion-chasing Real Oviedo back to the big time – shaking a sleeping giant from their slumber after over two decades in the lower leagues – then Baston will be able to look back on that Aston Villa spell, not as the beginning of the end, but merely a pothole in the road.
Is Borja Baston back to his best?
“I have found myself super comfortable from the first day I arrived,” Baston tells Marca. “They made me feel very comfortable. In the end, that influences things to go better.
“These are decisions (signing for Oviedo) that are made with the heart. If you are comfortable and happy in a place, you feel good with the club, the fans and the city. I am confident that this team can do something important.
“And it would be very nice to be able to do it with Real Oviedo.”
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