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Chelsea face Boehly and Pochettino stand-off as 'amazing' star transfer listed for £50m
Chelsea are keen to offload some of their fringe stars this month to raise funds for new signings.
Todd Boehly risks potentially upsetting Mauricio Pochettino once again by putting Armando Broja up for sale. Chelsea are reportedly willing to offload the striker on a permanent basis this month, despite the club looking short of options in the final third at present.
The Blues have endured a miserable start to the campaign, winning just nine of their opening 21 matches and are in need of drastic changes if they are to secure European football for next season.
Boehly has forked out over £1billion on new signings since purchasing the club, but further investment is required if the team are going to improve in the second half of the season. Pochettino has called for reinforcements at both ends of the pitch, with a world-class striker viewed as a priority at Stamford Bridge.
New signings are expected to arrive as a result, though offloading fringe stars is viewed as equally important by the higher powers at Chelsea. According to The Telegraph, Broja is the latest star to be put in the shop window by the Blues, with bids for the 22-year-old set to be entertained over the coming weeks.
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Chelsea value the Albanian international at over £50million, having used Rasmus Hojlund’s £72m price tag and Brighton’s £100m valuation of Evan Ferguson as price points when considering the region of offers that they are willing to listen to.
The departure of Broja is expected to spark the Blues into pursuing a replacement, though Chelsea are said to be content with allowing the academy graduate to be sold without having a striker signing lined up.
Although the sale of Broja would represent pure profit financially, Pochettino may be left unhappy by Boehly’s invitation for offers for the ex-Southampton loanee – having already come close to losing a key player in his system in the shape of Conor Gallagher. The former Tottenham manager recently revealed that he felt that his No. 19 had incredible potential and would improve markedly if he ‘smiled more’.
Speaking about Broja earlier this month, Pochettino said: “He needs to step up and to go forward and to move. He needs to smile more and be more positive. The potential is amazing. We're talking about one of the young strikers in England and in Europe with the most potential. But the problem now is he needs to push himself, and we're going to try to help him to realise that never it is enough.”