Tuchel provides update on Chelsea striker's future
Martin Macdonald
- 17 Jan 2022 08:33 CST
- 5 min read
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has praised the efforts of Armando Broja, with the striker enjoying a positive loan period away at Southampton.
The talent production at Cobham is unrivalled by most other elite clubs, and thanks to their 2019 transfer ban, a pathway to the first-team has certainly emerged.
The appointment of Frank Lampard and the aforementioned transfer ban saw the likes of Mason Mount, Reece James, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori break into the first-team, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Andreas Christensen and Callum Hudson-Odoi had already done so in previous years.
Abraham and Tomori have now departed for Serie A, but Mount, James, Christensen, and Hudson-Odoi remain key players under Thomas Tuchel, while Trevoh Chalobah has finally established himself in the first-team this campaign.
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Broja spent last season at Vitesse in the Eredivisie, scoring 10 goals and assisting two in 21 starts as he impressed in the Netherlands. Returning to Chelsea for pre-season, the Albanian forward scored three goals for the club, and caught the eye of Tuchel and his staff.
He has appeared 17 times in the Premier League this season.
Overall, he has started 12 games in all competitions and scored an impressive seven goals, while his overall play is developing, too.
Should he continue to improve, talk of an expanded role at Chelsea next season will generate.
But, Tuchel is wary of such talk at the moment.
What did Tuchel say about Broja?
“He is our player, he is doing good, but at the same time it is only halfway through the season so he needs to continue to improve and make his statement at Southampton," Tuchel told reporters on Monday.
"They are our players for a reason, they have quality and a mentality
Armando is getting better and better.
"He is a unique player with unique strengths: strong and robust and a goalscorer.
“Not is not the time to talk about summer. He has to stay calm and keep on improving.”
