West Ham United make approach to sign Chelsea striker Armando Broja
West Ham have made a move to sign Chelsea centre-forward Armando Broja, according to The Times.
The newspaper reported on their website on 20 June that the Irons have “made an approach for” the 20-year-old, who spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Southampton.
It is understood that the East London club wants to sign Broja as they aim to sign a back-up striker for Michail Antonio.
Get it done
Broja’s stats, on the surface, don’t look that great from his time at Southampton.
He scored just six goals in 32 Premier League appearances and added a further three goals in six domestic cup appearances – although two of them were against Newport County in the Carabao Cup.
Still, he’s only 20 years old and for a striker in his first full season of senior football in England, that’s quite impressive.
The Albania international, who was born in Slough, is a force of a centre-forward.
He’s strong, he’s good with the ball at his feet and he can link up well with fellow attackers.
West Ham’s Antonio isn’t too dissimilar to Broja, which is a good thing because we’ve been crying out for an alternative to Antonio for what feels like forever.
West Ham have failed too often to bolster their front-line so it’ll be interesting to see whether they can follow up this approach for Broja with an actual bid and then actually getting the deal done.
It probably won’t be easy as Thomas Tuchel has said that he wants to keep Broja for pre-season [HampshireLive], which suggests he might see a future for the Albanian at Stamford Bridge.
And why wouldn’t he? As described by Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, Broja is “a player that can create chances by himself and score goals by himself” [Sky Sports].
Jamie Redknapp has also given high praise to the youngster.
Speaking on Sky Sports on 17 May, as quoted by The Boot Room, he said: “He has this incredible pace and strength and if he gets the ball in the right positions he can finish really well.
“He’s a fantastic young player and I just want to see him get better and better, as he deserves every success.”
Go and get him, West Ham.