There have been so many strikers who have tried and failed to become the great modern Chelsea goalscorer that some can slip from view even as the club lines up another – which might have been the case for Armando Broja until this weekend.
The man from Slough, an academy boy fine-tuned on the loan programme of a previous Chelsea regime, has battled through serious injury and a £1 billion spending spree to make a comeback that might be in the nick of time. Mauricio Pochettino has a meeting on Sunday with his boss Behdad Eghbali, a Chelsea co-owner who is never hesitant to invest when the transfer window swings open.
Broja, an Albania international, has worked his way back from a serious knee injury one year ago, into a Chelsea squad transformed in the interim. The header he glanced in on 58 minutes was just his second goal of the season. There is a long queue for the striker’s role at Chelsea and no-one is sure who is in pole position. Nicolas Jackson is on duty at the African Cup of Nations. Christopher Nkunku is injured again. Deivid Washington is too young. Which leaves Broja as the last man standing currently, and he took his chance this time.
Broja is only 22 but life moves quickly at Chelsea. This FA Cup third round tie also marked the first start for 20-year-old Alfie Gilchrist and a first team debut for the 17-year-old Michael Golding. Broja is an academy graduate, which makes him dangerously valuable as a saleable asset when it comes to Chelsea’s profit and sustainability compliancy. Chelsea’s young players face a choice: either make yourself indispensable or find yourself on the way out.
Broja’s goal came just as it felt Stamford Bridge was about to turn against Pochettino’s team. There has been a dismal first half against the club placed 14th in the Championship. By the final whistle it might have looked comfortable but, as Preston North End’s manager Ryan Lowe was at pains to point out, for 58 minutes his team were very much in this FA Cup tie.
Broja’s header from Malo Gusto’s right-footed, left wing cross finally changed the course of the game, and a Chelsea team struggling for identity. Afterwards Pochettino made it clear that, for Broja, it is now or never. His knee injury, sustained during the World Cup break at the end of 2022, was an unfortunate set-back and so much has changed since then that the striker finds himself in a January transfer window with all options on the table.
This goal, Broja’s first since the start of October, was significant, Pochettino said – suddenly switching to serious Pochettino to make his point earnestly. “I need to be honest – he [Broja] needs to use this type of game when he scores a goal and feels the net to improve,” Pochettino said. “Improve not only his fitness or his capacity of work ethic but also in his body language.
“He needs to step up and go forward, he needs to smile more and be a little bit more positive. This is the way he is going to improve his game. The potential is amazing. We are talking about one of the young strikers here in England or Europe with the most potential.”
The attitude, he said, was part of the package. “I said to him ‘When you go out there, smile because you score’. Don’t take it in a negative way, it is positive. He needs to smile, to laugh, to have more good energy and be a more happy boy.”
This does not always look like a happy Chelsea team and the first half suggested a side who did not know how best to approach Preston’s unexpected confidence. After Broja scored, Pochettino even brought on the 39-year-old Thiago Silva who headed the second from Cole Palmer’s corner. The Brazilian might have thought he was due a rest on FA Cup third round weekend.
Pochettino also called upon Conor Gallagher from the bench, another who might have expected a day off with the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night. Preston had been composed in the first half with some admirable performances, including the former Manchester United academy boy Will Keane, twin brother of Everton’s Michael. Once Broja had scored, the away side struggled to match the intensity that Chelsea eventually generated.
Another academy graduate, Levi Colwill, captained the side. Raheem Sterling’s free-kick eluded Woodman after Ben Whiteman had been forced to bring down Palmer outside the area. By the time the video assistant referee Peter Bankes had finally overruled the on-field decision to disallow Enzo Fernandez’s fourth it was all over.
Pochettino quizzed on interest for Jordan Henderson
The question remains as to whether Chelsea will spend again this January. It is remarkable that they find themselves in search of something as basic as a goalscorer at this stage of their squad rebuilding.Pochettino was asked whether midfielder Jordan Henderson, potentially returning from Saudi Arabia, might be of interest.
“To be honest we didn’t talk about names,” he said. “At the moment we are not talking about bringing players. I saw Behdad here in the manager’s room with [sporting directors] Paul [Winstanley] and Laurence [Stewart]. I think tomorrow we are going to have a chat because we will be in the training ground.”
Pochettino said that the likes of Ben Chilwell, Benoit Badiashile and Carney Chukwuemeka are all close to fitness, but in the meantime he is struggling to give them the kind of game-time that might allow them to get back up to full speed. “We are in Chelsea and need to win,” he said by way of explanation, and that remains by no means a certainty.