Arsenal ‘monitoring’ Chelsea loanee Armando Broja — report

Chelsea loanee Armando Broja’s having an excellent first season in the Premier League. He’s become a key player for Southampton, contributing with 8 goals in 24 appearances (in all competitions), which may not be all that much, but which has earned him plenty of plaudits and attention.

Southampton have already made it quite clear that they’d want the 20-year-old back next season, at least on loan but ideally on a more permanent arrangement. But Chelsea were unwilling to entertain any such ideas in January, and we don’t seem too enthused by the prospect of it in the summer either, just a year after getting Broja singed to a long-term contract.

Other teams have started to take notice as well, such as Arsenal, with Football.London claiming that they are in fact keeping an eye on things and “monitoring” the situation. The Gunners released Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona last month and currently have only Gabriel Martinelli signed at striker beyond this season with the contracts of both Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah set to expire.

Reports last month guessed that it would take about £20m to convince Chelsea to let Broja go, but that’s purely speculative in every respect. And while we have done business with Arsenal in recent years, they’ve generally involved important players coming out way (Ashley Cole, Olivier Giroud) and less important players going their way (Petr Čech, David Luiz, Willian — all towards the ends of their careers).

Arsenal can monitor all they like, Broja ending up there would be rather unlikely.