Southampton have had a good window in terms of bringing in players from Chelsea on loan or on permanent transfers.
And while wing-back Valentino Livramento understandably took the headlines at the start of the season following his permanent transfer away from Southampton, it is on loan Chelsea striker Armando Broja who has really been lighting up the Premier League since moving to the England’s south coast.
Consequently, The Guardian are reporting that Broja could well be on the move soon on a full-time basis, with Southampton opening transfer negotiations regarding a permanent trabsfer for the 20-year-old.
Broja has scored five goals in 17 games so far this season, solid numbers for his first year in the Premier League and for such a young prospect.
With the Albanian International’s future at Chelsea clouded with uncertainty, Romelu Lukaku’s £100m transfer from Inter Milan in the summer certainly wouldn’t have helped his chances either, Broja’s best chance of playing at the top level long term could be to make a switch now and then develop his game where there is relatively less pressure.
However, Chelsea’s academy have been producing a number of gems recently, with a number of these either earning playing time in the first team such as Mason Mount, Reece James or Trevor Chalobah. or earning big money moves away such as Tariq Lamptey, Fikiyo Tomori or Tammy Abraham.
For this reason Chelsea could be reluctant to allow another potential gem to slip through their grasp without some sort of failsafe, such as the buy-back clause they have included in the deal for the aforementioned Livramento.
Need a buy back clause – in a only a few years he will be much better than Lukaku, and much cheaper.