Chelsea star's loan move to Premier League side in danger of collapsing - Reports
Chelsea forward Armando Broja was all set to join newly promoted Ipswich Town, but his move is now on the verge of collapsing due to paperwork issues, according to journalist Jacob Steinberg.
Everton have expressed interest in signing Broja, while Steinberg also reports that although the deal with Ipswich is not completely off, they are considering alternative options.
Broja fell down the pecking order at Chelsea, as Enzo Maresca only gave him only 72 minutes of playing time during the club’s pre-season tour in the United States. He was completely left out of the squad for their final pre-season game against Real Madrid and was also absent from both of Chelsea’s opening games this season, against Manchester City and Servette.
With the Blues securing the services of Joao Felix, they now have three options up front, including Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu. As a result, the club have been looking to offload the 22-year-old, with Ipswich Town being the frontrunners.
Broja, who has been with Chelsea since 2009, made his debut for the club during the 2019-20 season. After impressive loan spells at Vitesse and Southampton, the Albanian returned to the Blues in 2022 but has mostly been used as a backup striker since then.
Although his loan spell at Fulham in the latter part of last season did not go as planned, several Premier League clubs are still interested in him, as Chelsea prepare to offload him.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca expects several outgoings
Chelsea certainly have a stacked squad, but the club is now looking to offload multiple players to reduce the squad size. According to Fabrizio Romano, Romelu Lukaku is set to move to Napoli, while Raheem Sterling has been completely left out of the squad, with the club open to listen to offers for him.
Maresca believes there will be several departures towards the end of the transfer window, as the club aims to find solutions to reduce the squad size.
“I just communicate the players that I like and the players I don’t like and because there is one week, or 10 days, left of the transfer window, hopefully we can find solutions for all of them. When you find solutions, everyone is happy. When you don’t find a solution, then you can create some problems."
“At the moment, with the squad that we have, I am working with 22, 23 or 21 players - not with the 42 players otherwise it is impossible. It is impossible for any manager in the world to make a session with 45 players. It’s impossible. You cannot do that," Maresca said (via Football London)
Following their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League opener, Chelsea are set to travel to Molineux Stadium to face Wolves on Sunday, August 25.