"I expect" - Borja Sainz makes Premier League admission after impressive Norwich City season | OneFootball

The Spanish winger has admitted he wants to play in the top flight.

Norwich City star Borja Sainz has revealed he has ambitions of playing in the Premier League, after a successful individual campaign in the Championship this season.

The winger is two clear of both Leeds United’s Joel Piroe and his teammate Josh Sargent in the race for the second tier’s golden boot, with 17 strikes to his name at present.

The 24-year-old has also notched four assists in the league this term, and with those kind of numbers, it’s no surprise that bigger clubs have been circling around the Canaries star.

Back in January, La Liga outfits Atletico Madrid and Girona were both reportedly interested in his services, as well as Serie A side Napoli and Turkish giants Galatasaray respectively.

Journalist Alan Nixon also recently disclosed that Sheffield United are keen on the forward.

Sainz has made his future ambitions perfectly clear

While it is surely to be expected that a player of Sainz’s quality wants to play at the highest level he possibly can, there will surely be concerns among Norwich fans that he has chosen to publicly announce his intentions this close to the end of the season.

With just three games left of the season, Johannes Hoff Thorup’s men look set to miss out on potentially even a top-half finish. As a result, with the likes of Sainz and Sargent in their ranks, they could face a battle to keep some of their stars over the summer.

This latest admission from Sainz will surely heighten fears of a Carrow Road departure, with the forward seemingly trying to put himself in the shop window for any interested parties over the summer.

The Spanish winger told FourFourTwo: “I want to play for Spain. It will be difficult, but I want to do it, and I want to play in the Premier League.

“I need to keep working hard, that’s the most important thing. When each day passes, tomorrow you wake up and say, ‘ok I am better than yesterday,’ a better person and a better player. Every day, I need to go step by step.”

Sainz was also keen to stress how much he has enjoyed this season, one which has produced the best numbers of his career.

The wideman continued: “I expect to score goals, assist and play well, and last year I scored goals too, but not as many as this season. I don’t say, ‘come on you need to score more.’ That’s not my attitude.

“I just think that when I play and I enjoy it, goals and assists will come. The most important thing is to help the team.

“I worked hard in pre-season for this, it’s a privilege to be in this situation. This has been my best year in football.”

Sainz has enjoyed a superb season with Norwich City

While he has perhaps struggled to replicate his early-season form in the second half of this campaign, Sainz has still enjoyed an exceptional season.

The former Real Zaragoza and Alaves man has found the net just twice in the league since November, but he began this term in such impressive fashion that he still sits out on his own at the top of the Championship’s goalscoring charts.

After notching six goals and two assists in his debut Championship campaign on English soil last term, Sainz has kicked on this year and has arguably become one of the second tier's most dangerous attacking players.

He has spearheaded Norwich’s attacking threat alongside Sargent this season, in a campaign which has looked like promising slightly more for the Canaries at times.

Hoff Thorup’s men have won just one of their last nine league games, a run which has ultimately put a halt to any late play-off aspirations.

Given his exploits in front of goal this season, it seems likely that Sainz may push for a move away from Norfolk in the summer, and after the season he has had, it’s possible that his Premier League dream could become a reality sooner rather than later.