Borja Baston was enjoying a fine season; his Real Zaragoza side were on course for the Segunda Division playoffs and clubs in La Liga were taking note. "Getafe are interested in Atleti's Borja Baston," ran a headline from AS in May, one that should have screamed nothing but positives for an emerging 22-year-old striker but instead will have stirred mixed emotions.
Little over five years earlier, Borja made his Primera Division debut for his boyhood club, Atletico Madrid, against Getafe. That match was Atleti's final outing of the 2009-10 season in La Liga, playing at the Vicente Calderon with little on the line, Quique Sanchez Flores resting a number of his regulars ahead of the upcoming Copa del Rey final against Sevilla.