Chelsea face losing another promising youngster after impressing on loan

For all the success of Chelsea’s prestigious Cobham academy in recent seasons, it appears hat the club have also missed out on a number of promising young talents who have gone on to prove their worth elsewhere. 

While the likes of Mason Mount, Reece James and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all now staring regularly for the Blues’ first team, a number of former Cobham youngsters have also got away.

Tariq Lamptey was sold to Brighton in 2020, and has since gone on to impress on the south coast, while Tino Livramento also departed for Southampton last summer and has had an outstanding debut season with the Saints.

The likes of Marc Guehi, who joined Crystal Palace over the summer, and Lewis Bate, who made a move to Leeds during the same window, could also come back to haunt Chelsea one day.

Now, however, it appears that the Blues could be set to lose out on another future star.

According to Sky Sports, Southampton are keen on turning Armando Broja’s loan spell with the club into a permanent one.

Broja has impressed during his first full Premier League season

The Albanian striker has impressed on loan at St. Mary’s this season and Saints are hopeful that they may be able to sign the youngster permanently.

Despite only starting eight league games this season, the 20-year-old has scored five goals, including a crucial winner against Leeds United back in October.

Now, Saints are looking to make the deal permanent, although they face competition from a number of other top flight clubs.

The forward signed a five-year contract extension with his parent club in 2021, but it is unknown whether or not Chelsea would listen to offers for the player.

Broja has been with Chelsea since the age of eight but has only made one appearance for the club, as a late substitute against Everton in the Blues’ final game before the outbreak of Covid-19 disrupted the season in March 2020.

The striker has a good record throughout his career, however, having scored a brace on his Saints debut in an EFL Cup tie against Newport County, as well as managing three goals in ten appearances for the Albanian national side, since making his debut in 2020.

Last term, Broja spent the season on loan in the Netherlands with Vitesse Arnhem, and he finished the season as the club’s joint top scorer, with ten.