With the idea that Victor Osimhen is going to be sold this summer to someone in the Premier League, Napoli have seemingly started looking for the next candidate to lead the line under Luciano Spalletti.
While many names have been touted, there is one that appears to be a general consensus among the Italian media, and that’s Armando Broja.
The Chelsea striker, currently on loan at Southampton, has been one of the positive notes at St Mary’s this season.
His stock has risen around Europe, and the Blues need to be ready to make a decision in the summer, with clubs snooping around the Albania international.
Napoli are likely to be one of them, and journalist Paolo Bargiggia, speaking to 1 Football Club, relayed by Napoli Piu, suggested how the deal could be constructed to favour both the Serie A side and Chelsea.
He explained: “We had already talked about Armando Broja, a player who has a value of €30m upwards. Broja is owned by Chelsea and, if they go after the player, they won’t do a Tuanzebe style loan deal. De Laurentiis thinks of a loan with an obligation to buy or with a buy-back clause in favour of Chelsea. However, honestly, these are all suppositions because, to date, no concrete offers have been received for Osimhen.”
The buy-back clause hypothesis is one Chelsea have already done with the transfer of Tammy Abraham to AS Roma.
The Englishman was sold to José Mourinho’s side in the summer, but the Blues will have a chance to get him back from 2023 onwards for around €80m.
Doing a similar deal for Broja would make sense, but it could all depend on what Thomas Tuchel and Romelu Lukaku decide to do in the summer, as the Belgian’s return hasn’t gone very well at all.
An exit could tempt Chelsea to keep Broja around and develop him internally, as he has recently been dubbed ‘one of the most interesting prospects in Europe’.
It was once said that Marina Granovskaia was ready to sell him for €35-40m, but that fee seems low these days.
Something to keep an eye on.
