West Ham United must drop Armando Broja interest to sign Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Premier League rules state you can only have one loan player from a single club in the division and that is suddenly a problem for West Ham.
According to talkSPORT, the Irons are interested in signing both Armando Broja and Ruben Loftus-Cheek but Chelsea are not willing to let either leave the club permanently this summer.
Therefore, West Ham will have to decide whether the Albanian striker or the English midfielder is of preference to them right now and focus all of their attention on that one player.
A striker was the absolute priority earlier in the transfer window but since then, Gianluca Scamacca has come in from Sassuolo and he’s already scored his first goal in the Europa Conference League against Viborg.
So Broja is no longer needed unless either the Italian or Michail Antonio picks up a very long-term injury in the next couple of weeks.
So if David Moyes is keen to bring in a domestic Premier League loan, then Loftus-Cheek looks like the obvious choice even though he has featured for Thomas Tuchel’s side already.
The German has utilised the 26-year-old as a right wing-back at times due to the lack of options in that position as Reece James filled in at centre-half.
West Ham should not be doing that if they do bring Loftus-Cheek in because his sheer size and physical power on the ball make him one of the best ball-carrying midfielders in the Premier League.
That is maybe all that is lacking from the current crop of Hammers with Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek happy to play in front of themselves rather than drive towards goal themselves.
A season-long loan deal could easily turn into a permanent move next summer if he enjoys his time at the London Stadium and Todd Boehly keeps throwing money around like he has been at Stamford Bridge.