"No interest in selling him" - Thomas Tuchel confirms stance on highly rated Chelsea youngster
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has insisted that the club are not in any mood to sell striker Armando Broja. The Blues academy graduate impressed during his loan spell at Southampton last season.
West Ham United hold a keen interest in the player and David Moyes is eager to bring him to the London Stadium.
However, Tuchel, in his press conference before Chelsea's first pre-season friendly in Las Vegas, confirmed that Broja is not up for sale and remains in his plans. While speaking to the club's official website, he said:
"Armando is our player first of all, and we have at the moment no interest in selling him. He is here to make an impression after he was on loan in Southampton. It's good there's interest [from other clubs]. It shows us that there is a talent and potential."
"Armando is in a position to impress, impress here and to become a Chelsea player. When? Nobody knows but hopefully as soon as possible."
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano reported on July 16 that the Hammers have already submitted two bids for the Chelsea talent, believed to be in the region of €35 million. However, the Blues have not responded to those proposals. Other clubs are also interested in the striker according to Romano.
⚒️ #WHUFC
West Ham have submitted two bids in the last 24 hours. Proposal around €35m for Armando Broja, Chelsea have not decided yet as there are many clubs interested. 🚨⚒️ #WHUFC
The other bid is for Amadou Onana, main target as midfielder - around €38m, as @skysports_sheth reports. https://t.co/0wAThSyK5H
In the 2021-22 campaign, the Albanian made 38 appearances for Southampton across all competitions and scored nine times.
Chelsea striker Broja suffers injury setback on pre-season
With Romelu Lukaku loaned out to Inter Milan for the upcoming season, Armando Broja had a real opportunity to impress Thomas Tuchel and get into the first team. However, the 20-year old has men with an injury in the pre-season tour and is set to miss the Blues' friendly on July 17 against Club America.
The Chelsea manager provided an update on his injury, suggesting that it wasn't very serious, however the striker is in pain and will need some time off. The German told the Blues' official website:
"He had a little accident yesterday in training with ball control and landed in a funny way on his ankle and on his Achilles. So he's in pain but nothing major. We did all the examinations and it's just pain, and he's lucky that he did not get injured and we are lucky and happy that he did not injure himself."
"So he will not be in training today, he's in treatment. It's never nice because the young players should normally make an impression during pre-season from the very first minute. Now we have a little delay in that."
Armando Broja leaving training with a protective boot… https://t.co/Jg8S91r8Tp