Chelsea fans have made a remarkable Armando Broja claim after his latest goal on loan in the Premier League for Southampton against Brighton.
Broja, 20, added a third goal during his loan spell on the south coast with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints outfit after he broke the deadlock with a well taken finish after a Nathan Redmond header set the striker on his way to striking gold.
The Albania international has already become a fan favourite amongst the Southampton faithful and Chelsea fans may be feeling envious that Lukaku is not as clinical as their loan player who is pulling up trees at St Mary’s Stadium.
In their 3-2 defeat to West Ham United in the early kick off on Saturday, both Kai Havertz and Romelu Lukaku put in underwhelming performances as it took Thiago Silva and Mason Mount scoring to make up for the long-term deficit up front that has haunted the Blues since Diego Costa left the club in 2018.
Lukaku’s 45-minute cameo from the bench in the London derby was another example of how the players around him aren’t utilising his services in the best way, as he continues to struggle in front of goal after an impressive start to life at Stamford Bridge following his £97.5million return in the summer.
Broja, who has already had comparisons to Costa, has starred on the international stage for Albania and at the age of 20, could be Chelsea’s next star to have come through the academy set-up if manager Thomas Tuchel was to put his faith in him.
“Yeah it’s good and it was absolutely necessary to turn the game around because it’s a much better feeling to win games and to continue from there than to lose and worry or be sad and angry. It’s much better,” Tuchel said on Broja in pre-season when he netted in the 2-1 Bournemouth win.
“They had their two chances and took them, this is what they do and now they have to continue.”
It’s safe to say that fans of the west London club are very keen to see manager Tuchel give the ex-Vitesse Arnhem loanee a chance to impress, with some supporters even demanding significant action be taken in January.
Here’s the best of the reaction on Twitter from a frustrated Chelsea fanbase who are clearly hurting after what they say at the London Stadium earlier on in the day.
(Image: Visionhaus)
@ProphetChijioke said: ‘BROJA should be brought in January to bench Lukaku.’
@CFC_Matt__ wrote: ‘We let Broja go out on loan and kept Werner and paid 100m for Lukaku…’
@BulgarianCF controversially stated: ‘I’d take Broja over Lukaku every day of the week.’
@_ksante worryingly put: ‘The inexperienced Armando Broja we sent on loan just to buy the experienced Romelu Lukaku has the same number of goals as Romelu Lukaku this season in less minutes.’
@sidelinestawry tweeted: ‘Bin Lukaku and bring Broja back home.’
@FullBackMaestro demanded Marina Granovskaia to take urgent action: ‘cancel Broja and Gallagher’s loans and bring them back asap, Broja has the same no of pl goals as Lukaku already playing for a 15th placed team.’
Finally, @Jhovan__ like many others said: ‘Broja > Lukaku.’