Chelsea’s splurge on young players from around the world has been the highlight under the new ownership. Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over from Roman Abramovich in the summer of 2022, the consortium has somewhat led with the strategy of spending loads of money on raw potential. Now while this is a great tactic for a club that does not produce good academy graduates, that isn’t the case with Chelsea.
Since Roman Abramovich had taken over the Blues in 2003, the Stamford Bridge outfit have had one of the best football academies in the world. Many star players have come through since the Cobham training ground in the last 20 years, which the Chelsea fans would be proud of.
However, Boehly and Co’s new trend of buying literally every up-and-coming talent around the globe might end up hurting the club in the process. Mauricio Pochettino’s squad has a number of Cobham graduates currently, with the likes of Reece James, Connor Gallagher and Ian Maatsen already making waves. Although, one academy graduate whose future looks bleak is Armando Broja. The Albanian striker has been at Chelsea since the age of nine and has represented the Blues across all age groups.
He made his Chelsea senior debut in 2020 under Frank Lampard and hasn’t looked back since then. He suffered a serious ACL injury just before the 2022 World Cup which kept him out of the rest of the season. Broja hasn’t travelled with the squad on their US tour to train separately until he recovers completely. While the Albanian has been slowly trying to regain sharpness, it might be a case of too little too late for the striker.
With Pochettino’s squad back in action in the Premier League on August 13, the Argentine manager might not have an idea himself as to where Broja fits in his plans. Which brings us to the question, does Armando Broja have a future at Chelsea?
Striker options at Chelsea
Armando Broja is only the second recognised striker in the Chelsea first-team after Nicholas Jackson. Jackson was brought in to provide some stiff competition to the Albanian.
While the Senegalese has hit the road running in the US pre-season tour with Chelsea and Pochettino, Broja is still training separately in a bid to regain fitness from his recent ACL injury.
Christopher Nkunku was also announced as another new Chelsea recruit in the summer of 2023. But he traditionally plays in a support role with a striker and won’t be regularly leading the line.
Other incoming in the striker department is highly unlikely given both Broja and Jackson are young with tremendous potential still to be unlocked.
Is Broja Chelsea calibre?
It is difficult to ignore the fact that Armando Broja recently signed a contract extension with the Blues in late 2022. But with the signing of players like Nkunku and Jackson, it has only become more difficult to claim a spot in the starting 11.
He is no doubt a player with huge potential, given he is still only 21. Speaking of his capability of playing for a club like Chelsea, the Blues hierarchy wouldn’t have offered him the contract extension had they thought the Albanian isn’t good enough to play at the highest level.
His place in the quad was further cemented after new manager Pochettino decided to loan David Fofana instead of him. It is clear to see that the Argentine manager rates the striker highly and has big plans for him in this Chelsea squad. Plus his presence makes competition for places only stronger and gets the best out of other attackers as well in the squad.
Broja’s Chelsea future verdict
Ultimately, Broja’s future will depend on what he wants. If he is happy to be a squad player at Chelsea and wait for his chance, he could stay at the club. However, if he wants to play regular first-team football, he may be forced to move on.
It is still too early to say what Broja’s decision will be. However, he is a talented player with a bright future, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
The sky is the limit for Armando Broja and if he can tap into his yet-to-be-unlocked abilities, Pochettino has a really great finisher on his hands. His Chelsea future is uncertain, but he has the potential to be a star at the club. It will be interesting to see what decision he makes in the coming months.
