Fading Chelsea gem’s transfer resurrected as Osimhen move hangs in the balance

Armando Broja may yet free himself from his Chelsea quagmire as a Premier League side have reportedly reignited their efforts to secure his signature, while Victor Osimhen’s possible Stamford Bridge move is hanging in the balance.

Broja has gone from being one of the Chelsea academy’s biggest gems to someone they can’t seem to shift, along with a whole host of first-team players.

Following an encouraging loan spell at Southampton in 2021-22, the Albania international signed a six-year deal with the Blues until the summer of 2028.

On his bumper contract, he said at the time: “I’m lost for words really just thinking about it. It’s the club I’ve dreamed of playing for my whole life, the club that I support and the club that I love. I’ve been here since I was a boy so it’s a surreal feeling for me and my family.

“To be able to put on the blue shirt with the first team is a dream come true. It’s amazing every minute that you get to play on the pitch because this is one of the biggest clubs in the world.

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“There’s always competition and everyone wants to play so I’m just happy that I have the opportunity to be a part of it. Hopefully I get to play a lot of matches and be a part of the team’s success.”

Fast forward to the present and the outlook is much bleaker. Chelsea have rapidly dropped their £50m price tag for the 22-year-old, who is understand to not be in new head coach Enzo Maresca’s first-team plans.

In 38 appearances for the senior side, he has scored just three goals and bagged two assists. On paper, a loan move to Fulham in the second half of last season seemed like a good switch for him, but the former Vitesse loanee barely featured for Marco Silva’s team.

He was not in the first-team squad on a number of occasions, was an unused substitute in other instances, and he made just eight appearances – racking up just 81 minutes of game time.

Despite his difficult spell of form, he still insisted there were lots of teams interested in signing him back in late June.

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“It’s true, I have offers from these three championships (Serie A, Bundesliga, Premier League). Staying at Chelsea? Is it an option, I still have a contract with them that expires in many years,” he said.

TEAMtalk previously revealed that Everton were monitoring the 6ft 3in forward’s situation but when that interest subsided, newly-promoted Ipswich Town went to the front of the queue.

But, yet again, there was something of a transfer impasse and the deal looked dead. However, on transfer deadline day, Fabrizio Romano has stated that Chelsea and Ipswich are in advanced talks for the Broja deal to be re-activated.

Broja is expected to be out with a foot injury until October but the Tractor Boys are still interested in a loan move for the striker.

Ipswich saw two offers for Broja, who suffered an ACL injury in December 2022, rejected but they have not given up hope of bringing him to Portman Road.

If he does go, that could free up some wages for Chelsea to bring in Osimhen, with a possible transfer from Napoli going right to the wire.