Borja Bastón - fulfilling a father's dream. From Arsenal to Spain - the journeys of three footballers (21st June, 2017)

Miguel Bastón was a goalkeeper who played for Atlético - but only with its reserves - and spent most of his career with Real Burgos CF. His dream of playing for the first team of the club that he graduated from never materialized.

Born in Madrid, Borja arrived in his hometown club Atlético Madrid's youth system at the age of four. He began as a goalkeeper, the position which his father played professionally, but he converted him to a forward so that he could enjoy the game more. He made his senior debuts in the 2009–10 season, scoring 12 goals for the reserve team in the third division.

On 15 May 2010, in the campaign's last round, Borja made his first-team and La Liga debut, coming on as a substitute for Tiago in the 58th minute of the game against Getafe CF. He had fulfilled his father's dream.

That dream, however, faded quickly.

Twenty minutes later, he was stretchered off with a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury on his left knee, in an eventual 0–3 home loss.

He never played for the first team again - seven months after his injury, Borja re-appeared with Atlético B, and played with them in the 2010-11 season. He then spent five seasons on loan at five different clubs, before joining Swansea permanently.

At the end of the 2016 FA WSL season, three Spaniards left Arsenal as quickly as they had come. Natalia Pablos, Marta Corredera and Vicky Losada left the club and went back to Spain.

This is the story of their rise before joining Arsenal.

Until 2013 she was the captain of Rayo Vallecano women's team, where she played since the club's foundation in 2000. At Rayo, Natalia won three league titles and one Spanish Cup. She was the league's top scorer of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons with 24 and 29 goals respectively.

In March 2013, she left the club having scored 311 goals in 324 matches overall - joining compatriot Laura del Río at the Bristol Academy in the English FA WSL. A female version of Michu, said Bristol manager Mark Sampson.

In December 2014 Natalia left Bristol Academy to join Arsenal Ladies.

Corredera signed for Arsenal in July 2015, from Barcelona where she had won four consecutive Primera División titles since 2011.

Losada's career in the Primera División - with the exception of one season (the 2007–08 season which she played for Espanyol) - was spent at Barcelona where she won four Leagues and three Spanish Cups.

In 2014, she played in the American NWSL for Western New York Flash, where she was voted the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Player of the Week by the media for Week 1 of the 2014-15 season. She returned to Barcelona after the season ended.

Arsenal announced the signing of Losada on January 22, 2015 having previously worked with manager Pedro Martínez Losa in the United States.

Natalia returned to Rayo in 2017, scoring 20 goals in just half a season to help the club finish in 7th place and qualify for the Copa de la Reina. Corredera moved to Atlético Madrid in 2016, where she won yet another league title. And Losada returned to Barcelona in 2016 too, missing out on the title by two points.

Follow @Vallecanos1924

Non-league Incider: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers

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Who is Raúl Martín Presa, the Mickey Mouse? Part 1. (20th August, 2017)

José María Ruiz-Mateos was the head and main shareholder of Nueva Rumasa - the company that owned Rayo and other companies - mainly specializing in dairy products. (He wasn't the president of Rayo though - his wife, Teresa Rivero, was Rayo's president). In early 2011, the directors announced a debt of over 700 million euros, that it was on the verge of bankruptcy and that staff wouldn't be paid. And the players were visibly angry about it - captain Míchel assured the press that the club would continue fighting on the pitch, but the day after the announcement was made, six key players didn’t attend training. Veteran midfielder José María Movilla spoke on radio station SER about the situation, about the fact that he had only received seven of the last eighteen months of pay, about the fact that there were a few players who couldn't even afford car repairs. When Rayo Vallecano were about to earn promotion to La Liga despite all the odds - the players not being paid,

The Pride of Vallekas

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