Why on Earth is Armando Broja not starting for Chelsea? The 20-year-old Albanian is an absolute terror to play against. Another high- value Chelsea loanee is showing the world just how incredible the Cobham graduate scheme is.
Broja, who is currently on loan to Southampton, faced Manchester United on Saturday and completely dominated in the attack. Whilst it was Che Adams who wrote his name on the scoresheet, the talk of the town was around Broja and why he deserves his spot in the Chelsea starting XI.
The greatest Chelsea strikers have given the most elite defenders a torrid time. Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane both struggled to tame the Albanian’s power.
The personnel that Chelsea needs in front of goal is already a Chelsea player! Let's try not to make the same mistake we made with Tammy Abraham.
Since the departure of Didier Drogba, Chelsea has been seeking a player of his calibre. A man to brush players off him with ease. Bully his way through defences and actually finish. The closest the Blues have come to this was Diego Costa. The Costa Era was a short-lived fantasy, and we’ve yet to find someone that has an inner villain in them.
It may be premature to start having this conversation but Armando Broja could be the next best thing. He’s a little rough around the edges but that’s what makes him a perfect fit for Chelsea's young team.
I’m not a fan of soft players: Players who go down easily for the foul, players who lack the courage to truly battle their opponent. Despite playing against one of the biggest teams in England, it didn’t stop Broja from bullying Maguire. The 20-year-old refused to shy away from the battle, coming out on top every time.
It’s well known that Thomas Tuchel already has too many options on his roster for his attack. He’s struggled to find his best group of players going forward because they’ve lacked having a killer instinct. I can confidently say that Broja would make Tuchel’s decision making so much easier.
Forget the price tags. Forget the fact that we’ve paid so much money for Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz. Ralph Hasenhuttl has proven that Broja is the real deal and we have him for FREE. We cannot miss out or move him on too quickly as we did with Tammy Abraham.
Since joining Jose Mourinho’s Roma, Abraham has scored 17 goals. That is more than Lukaku and Havertz combined. Broja currently has 8 goals to his name for Southampton, which is more than Havertz and Werner. It is also just one less than Lukaku’s tally (9).
When we speak of young talent from Chelsea, we think of Reece James, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori. These players were given their chance to perform in the Premier League for their boyhood club in their early 20’s. Even earlier for Callum Hudson-Odoi. The fallacy that players need to be of a certain age to start for Chelsea ended in 2019.
It doesn’t matter what his age is, nor does it matter what his price tag is. Chelsea must look into developing Broja at home next season. Tuchel nurtured Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from a prospect into one of Europe's premier forwards at Dortmund. There’s no doubting that he could take Broja to another level too.
Make sure you have subscribed to CareFree Chelsea on YouTube! The Fan Brands team along with plenty of your football.london favourites will be producing daily Chelsea content for you to enjoy including match reactions, podcasts, football fun and interviews. You can follow Anita Abayomi from the CareFreeChelsea team to keep up to date with her work. If you enjoyed reading this then give her other articles a read below.
