Mauricio Pochettino has dismissed talks of Armando Broja returning to action for Chelsea ahead of the fixture against Bournemouth on Sunday (17 September).
Recently, the Albanian FA chief had suggested that the 22-year-old was back fit after his lengthy injury. However, speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference, Pochettino was quick to play down those reports.
The Argentinean coach dismissed the Albanian FA’s comments and confirmed that Broja is ‘not yet’ ready to return to action for Chelsea this weekend.
Pochettino said via football.london:
“Who said that? Who is the Albanian FA? The coach? The president? I didn’t hear. It’s not [true]. Not yet.”
Broja picked up an injury back in December last year. Since then, the striker has not played for Chelsea. The Blues are currently going through a crisis due to several fitness issues.
The Albania international is not the only player out for the West London club. Pochettino is also without the likes of Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah, Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku.
However, Chelsea seem to have enough cover in most areas of the pitch except the number nine position. Nicolas Jackson has been relied on by the Blues to lead the line at the start of the season.
But the Senegal international has been wasteful in front of goal over the last few weeks. However, Pochettino does not have a lot of other natural striking options at his disposal.
Chelsea need more options up front
Broja is a Chelsea academy product. After the forward’s impressive loan spell at Southampton in the 2021/22 term, there were a lot of hopes pinned on the youngster’s shoulders.
However, Broja failed to break into the Chelsea first team last season. The injury hampered the striker’s development and he has been unable to showcase his full potential at the club so far.
Chelsea will be hoping that Broja will be able to get back to full-match fitness sooner rather than later. Pochettino has also been without Nkunku since the start of the season and the club expect the France international to be out for a considerable period. Therefore, fans will be eager for the Albanian’s return.
