After Sevilla FC announced Rony Lopes today, their Andalusian rivals, Real Betis Balompie fought back and made official the signing of Borja Iglesias. A record signing for an estimated fee of €28M, Borja signs a five-year contract with the Verdiblancos.

Borja arrives in Catalonian club Espanyol only last season after a very successful loan deal in the Spanish second tier, with Real Zaragoza in 2017/18.

In Zaragoza, he scored 23 goals in 43 matches and he replicated the success in the following year in La Liga, contributing with another 23 goals, in 46 matches for Espanyol.

Weirdly enough, Borja is a product of Celta Vigo’s academy but has barely played for their main team. Even though he scored 70 goals for Celta’s B side, he played only 50 minutes in total for the Galician club.

If Espanyol got one of their best league placements of all time, the 7th place in La Liga table, they have to express gratitude to Borja Iglesias. A proper number 9, Borja will add even more attacking options to Betis new coach, Rubi.

Fekir and Iglesias to attack La Liga

It is worth remembering that Betis has already made a surprising signing this Summer when they secured Nabil Fekir for less than €20M.

Besides Borja and Fekir, they also got left back Pedraza on loan from Villarreal, right back Emerson from Barcelona (€6M) and right-winger Juanmi from fellow La Liga side Real Sociedad (€8M).

In the other direction, they loaned Giovanni Lo Celso to Tottenham, in the Premier League deadline day, which is likely to secure them a huge profit next year, if the Londoners activate his buyout clause.

They also sold Junior Firpo (€18M) left-back, to Barcelona and goalkeeper Pau Lopez to Roma for €23,50.

Betis finished last season in 10th place and they will be eager to improve it and get back into European places minimum. The La Liga schedule starts next Friday and we are all excited to see how Betis new signings will turn out.