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Is there still life at Chelsea for Armando Broja?

Questions surrounding Armando Broja’s future at Chelsea are likely going to rumble on until the end of the transfer window. The 20-year-old striker spent last season out on loan at Southampton, impressing in the first half of the season before going goalless in his final 13 appearances for the Saints.

However, despite that barren run in front of goal in the second half of the campaign, it was always likely that the promising Albanian was still going to attract plenty of interest from Premier League clubs this summer, and that is exactly what has happened in the last couple of weeks.

Broja joined up with his Blues teammates late on their pre-season tour of the United States after paperwork issues stopped him from travelling with the squad, but he returned to the United Kingdom just days later and the rumour mill went into overdrive — with many pundits claiming that his departure from the tour was to complete a move to West Ham United, who reportedly submitted a £30m bid.

Even though numerous reliable sources in the world of football transfers claimed a move across the capital to the London Stadium was close, Thomas Tuchel rubbished the stories and revealed that Broja left the squad and returned home in order to receive treatment for a knock he sustained as Chelsea prepared for the upcoming Premier League season in Los Angeles.

The Champions League-winning manager also revealed that the club have ‘no interest’ in selling Broja in this window — dampening the hopes of Newcastle United, the Hammers and former club Southampton, who had all hoped to secure the 20-year-old’s signature in a bid to make them more favourable on sites like Betdaq.

So, could there still be life for Broja at Chelsea yet? Of course, Romelu Lukaku’s return to Inter Milan on loan for the 2022/23 season after largely failing to adapt in his second stint at Chelsea last campaign means that the west London side are looking rather thin when it comes to out-and-out striker options — with Timo Werner the only recognised number nine.

The fact that Chelsea are also focusing their expenditure in the summer market on defenders, hoping to bring in Jules Koundé and Presnel Kimpembe to fill the void left by the departures of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rüdiger, means that Todd Boehly might not supply Tuchel with the funds required to bring in a new forward.

Nor have they really been linked with a striker in recent weeks for that matter. Indeed, they were believed to have been offered Cristiano Ronaldo and to have shown interest in Robert Lewandowski before his move to Barcelona, but since then there hasn’t really been anything to note and that will be a massive boost for Broja’s chances of getting minutes.

Of course, that’s not to say that the board and Tuchel won’t turn their attention back to attacking options when they sort their defensive crisis out. It was reported that the German wanted two wingers earlier in the window, and so far, only Raheem Sterling has been brought in, so it’s certainly still a possibility that more fresh faces will be added to this Chelsea side.

For now, though, it seems Broja is, in fact, in Tuchel’s plans and he’ll be keen to shake off the knock he is currently carrying before the new season gets underway with a trip to Frank Lampard’s Everton on August 6th — especially with the introduction of five substitutes increasing his chances of getting minutes at Goodison Park and over the course of the season.

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