La Liga new entrant SD Eibar have signed Atletico de Kolkata defensive midfielder Borja Fernandez. A product of the Real Madrid youth academy, Borja had a successful stint with the Indian Super League outfit and won the competition as Kolkata were crowned the maiden champions of the tournament.
Borja is the second Indian Super League player to sign for a club playing in the major leagues, after Chennaiyin FC’s Colombian striker Stiven Mendoza, who signed for Corinthians, who play in the Brasileiro Série A earlier this month.
It was only two seasons ago that Eibar were playing in the non-professional third tier Segunda Division B, but now after a lot of hard work and successive promotions, they find themselves in the first tier. They have the least amount of resources in the La Liga, and a lot of people were worried as to how they would be able to survive in the league. However, they have been very good so far and are definitely the surprise of the season as they sit in 10th position in the table.
Fernandez played for Getafe in the La Liga the previous season and has earlier had stints with Deportivo La Coruña, Real Valladolid, and Mallorca. He has also played against Eibar back in 2004 while playing for Real Madrid in a Copa del Rey match.