On 15 May 2010, Borja González Tomás, known as Borja Bastón, made his first-team debut for Atlético Madrid against Getafe in La Liga. He lasted less than twenty minutes before a serious knee ligament injury forced him off. The centre-forward was born in Madrid on 25 August 1992. He is the son of Miguel Bastón, who worked as Atlético’s goalkeeping coach. He joined the club’s academy as a young boy and started out in goal before he was moved up front.
Atlético academy and Spain youth teams
For Atlético’s reserve team he scored 16 goals in 37 Segunda División B matches between 2009 and 2011. In the same years he made his name with Spain’s youth teams. At the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria, Spain finished third and he won the Golden Boot with five goals. Two years later he was part of the squad that won the 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, although he played only two matches. Across the under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels he won 29 caps and scored 19 goals.
Four loans in the Spanish second division
Atlético loaned him to Real Murcia in 2011. He scored his first professional goal there on 25 September that year and finished the season with four league goals. In 2012-13 he played for Huesca and scored nine goals in 31 league games, the first against Lugo on 15 September 2012, but the Aragonese club went down. The following season he scored ten goals for Deportivo de La Coruña, who won promotion to La Liga as runners-up. His best season at that level came in 2014-15 with Real Zaragoza. He scored more than twenty goals, finished as the club’s top scorer and was named in the second division Team of the Season. Zaragoza reached the promotion play-off final but lost it.
Eibar and the step up to La Liga
In the summer of 2015 he joined Eibar on loan. His first La Liga goals came in a 2-2 draw with Levante, and he was named La Liga Player of the Month for October 2015. He finished the 2015-16 season with 18 goals in 36 league games, and those numbers took him to the Premier League.
Swansea, Málaga, Alavés and Aston Villa
On 11 August 2016 Swansea City announced his signing on a four-year contract for £15.5 million, at the time a club-record fee. He made his debut on 18 September at Southampton. His first Premier League goal came on 15 October 2016 in a 3-2 defeat at Arsenal, and it was his only league goal that season. In 2017-18 he went back to Spain on loan at Málaga and scored twice in 20 games. Both Málaga and Swansea were relegated that season. In 2018-19 he was loaned to Alavés, where he scored five goals in 27 league matches. In 2019-20 he returned to Swansea, by then in the Championship, and scored six goals in 20 games. In January 2020 he left for Aston Villa, where he played twice in the Premier League before he was released in June 2020.
Leganés and Real Oviedo
Leganés, just relegated to the Spanish second division, signed him in September 2020, and he scored five league goals for them. In August 2021 he joined Real Oviedo, which became the longest spell of his career. In 2021-22 he scored 22 goals and shared the second division’s Pichichi Trophy with Girona’s Cristhian Stuani. That season he was also named the division’s Player of the Month for April. In three seasons at the Carlos Tartiere he scored 40 league goals and at one point captained the side. He left the Asturian club in June 2024.
Pachuca, Granada and South Korea
In July 2024 he moved to Mexico to play for Pachuca. He made seven Liga MX appearances and did not score. In February 2025 he returned to Spain as a free agent and signed for Granada in the second division until the end of the season, playing eleven matches. In March 2026 he signed for Paju Frontier of K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football, where he wears the number 92 shirt.
Paju CitizenForwardMarket value €280.0K