Armando Broja
It is a surprise that the Cobham graduate has struggled to secure a run of games at Chelsea despite their finishing challenges for the past few seasons.
A relatively successful loan spell at Southampton in the 2021-22 campaign set him up for a promising season at his boyhood club. However, he suffered from a damaging cruciate ligament tear in a friendly against Aston Villa, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Chelsea striker Armando Broja “underwent a successful operation” on Wednesday after suffering an ACL injury during Chelsea’s friendly against Aston Villa last week.https://t.co/pXAHTrANTF
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) December 21, 2022
After returning from injury, Broja could not establish himself in the Chelsea team, with Nicolas Jackson generally occupying the striker spot. A loan spell to Fulham was supposed to provide him a platform to record minutes in the Premier League and re-ignite some of the lost form from his Southampton days.
However, ill fortune struck again as Rodrigo Muniz began firing and understandably kept Broja out of the starting lineup.
As Chelsea seeks to bolster their striker options in the upcoming transfer window, Broja has been deemed surplus to requirements and will leave the club on a permanent transfer this summer. With several Premier League clubs interested in the Albanian, Chelsea will not find it difficult to offload the youngster.
As an academy product, Broja's sale would also allow the club to book a profit on the entire transfer value - providing relief in the club's attempts to balance the books.