Armando Broja expected to return ‘this week’

Armando Broja has been anxiously awaiting the all-clear to get back to playing following his knee surgery in late December, even returning from his summer holidays a couple weeks early this offseason to try to accelerate his recovery as much as possible.

But after missing out on our USA Tour and not featuring at all in the first month of the season, Broja looks set to return very soon now, perhaps as early as this weekend. At least that’s what the Albanian FA are expecting, who are hoping to be able to call on their young striker for the next international break as well.

“Broja has completed the recovery phase. We expect him to be on the bench with Chelsea this week. He should normally be back in October for the Czech Republic game. He is an added value for us. One of the best Albanian footballers, so he will help us.”

-Armand Duka; source: Euronews via Evening Standard

I don’t imagine Broja alone will solve our goal-scoring woes, but having another option to try in attack can’t hurt. The 22-year-old looked to be a full participant in Tuesday’s training at Cobham (as was Benoît Badiashile), so hopefully our injury situation will indeed start improving.