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Wednesday was all about Armando Broja in the transfer rumour world, and it’s left me with not such a good feeling on the whole situation.
First of all, David Ornstein of The Athletic reported that Chelsea are willing to let Broja leave on permanent deal this month if a suitable offer is received, and selling him is NOT contingent on Chelsea signing replacement. He mentioned Christopher Nkunku returning as one reason why they would not replace Broja. I know, completely ludicrous. Nkunku is NOT a centre forward and also, has been injured ALL season so far.
Then Matt Law of The Telegraph put his report out on Broja.
He says Chelsea currently believe Broja is worth between £50m and £60m. Manchester United agreed to sign Rasmus Hoijlund for £72 million last summer and Chelsea are believed to have taken that fee into consideration when valuing Broja.
It had been believed that Chelsea would only allow Broja to leave this month if they sign a new forward, but that may not be the case if a club gets close to meeting their asking price. There remains an expectation that Chelsea would try to sign a forward to replace Broja though.
Where do I even start on all of that?
First and foremost, I wonder what on earth Broja must be thinking about all this. Chelsea briefing that they will sell a player who is more than likely to be leading our line in the most important game of our season so far on Tuesday night is not sitting well with me at all. Imagine Broja looking at his phone yesterday and seeing that the club he loves, the club he wants to make it at, are telling the press that they want to sell him? He’s just trying to find his feet again after a long injury and he is desperate to prove himself at this club. Now he suddenly finds himself playing in a shop window?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not even necessarily against selling Broja if a good offer came in, and I am even one of those who actually still does rate Broja and holds some belief in him.
But I know we have to sell players by the summer, I’m not naive to that. I know that players who we didn’t pay a penny for represent pure profit. I also know that Broja may not actually become a top quality player at all. I rate him, but that’s not to say that he will make it and ever be good enough to lead the line for Chelsea. So selling him is something I’m not completely against.
What I AM against is the circus and drama of these reports being out there and taking over rumour-ville. And I am against selling Broja without replacing him. And I am against setting an unrealistic valuation on him based on an overly inflated market that we ourselves have helped contribute to. I mean, do you want to sell him or not?
I also understand that if we want to sign a top striker, then we will have to accept selling some of our ‘pure-profit’ players. I love Conor Gallagher but the reality is when we have everyone fit, will he even be starting? I don’t think so. And it’s the same with Broja. Maybe the board are backing Mauricio Pochettino by selling Broja over Gallagher? Personally I still think they will end up selling both, whether that’s now or in the summer.
My view is we should be backing what the manager wants as much as possible, if we are even still fully backing said manager. But at the same time, I’m not even fully against selling Gallagher or Broja for the right money. I love them both, but I don’t see them as indispensable.
The situation is this though, Chelsea are willing to sell Broja yet value him at £50-£60m (according to Matt Law). IF we value him so highly then why are we looking to sell him mid-season? Why would we not wait until the summer? Or if we value him so much then why are we looking to sell at all? Very good questions, right?
Broja is 22, and still relatively unproven. He has also just come back from a long-term injury and has been struggling to find form. How on earth that makes him a £50m-£60m player is beyond belief.
Photo by /Chelsea FC via Getty Images
But of course, Chelsea have a right to value a player as they see fit, as do any club. But we can’t complain when clubs set stupid valuations for their players if we are setting such a value for Broja.
And do they actually want to sell him at all? Because no club is paying that valuation for Broja in the winter window. I doubt any club is even paying that in the summer window.
For what it’s worth, we have to speak about this valuation as alleged and IF true, I also think it’s important to state this. Because I heard yesterday Chelsea were looking for around £30m (probably more) for Broja, and Ben Jacobs also stated plus £35m yesterday as well.
But outlets gets briefings from the club, and that is why this doesn’t sit well. It being put out there all over the press that Broja is up for sale right now. If he’s up for sale, that’s fine, but let’s be smart and realistic about this.
Broja is a £30m player right now, and to be honest, I am not sure that we will even get that for him this window. But that is a fair price in my view.
And if we even think about letting him go on any deal without a replacement coming in, I will have no words, at least no good words, to say.
Imagine thinking we can go through the rest of this season with ONE recognised striker, and said striker actually being much better as a wide striker or a winger than he is as a centre forward. Imagine that?
Again, for what it is worth, I have always been hearing that Chelsea will ideally sign a new striker this window if they can get the right profile and opportunity. And also, Law has said that they will ideally replace Broja. So we have to treat Ornstein’s claims as alleged at the moment and just see what happens.
Although I am expressing my views passionately above, I am also always keen to reiterate that we should not give our full judgements on situations until the window has closed and we have seen what we have actually done. I think everything until then we should treat as ‘IF’s’ and ‘alleged’ reports.
I think that we should be fair with the club in that sense. So lets just wait and see what happens and what the club do here. I refuse to believe they will be daft enough to not sign a new striker this month, regardless of Broja. I know we all have emotions and react to stuff, I certainly do, but I will try and just wait and see how things pan out come the end of this month before I go too into my views!
Like I say, I’ve heard that this is the intentions for some time now, and I am even hearing more and more about a short-term option coming in as a temporary solution.
Lets see what unfolds and fully judge once the window is closed.
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