Everton’s potential acquisition of Armando Broja could be a statement signing for Frank Lampard this summer.
That is according to journalist Simon Phillips, who was speaking to GiveMeSport about the Toffees’ potential transfer plans in the final week of the transfer window.
Everton have been angling to sign a striker all summer and they now seem to have got their wish, after signing Brighton & Hove Albion forward Neal Maupay for an undisclosed fee last week.
However, Football Insider understands that the Toffees have told their other fit senior striker, Salomón Rondón, to find another club, whilst Dominic Calvert-Lewin is still out with an injury suffered in pre-season.
And according to TalkSport, Everton have asked Chelsea to include one of Broja or Conor Gallagher in a transfer exchange deal if young winger Anthony Gordon is to leave Goodison Park for Stamford Bridge before the transfer deadline on 1st September.
Phillips believes that at the moment, there is nothing to suggest Chelsea would allow Broja to leave the club this summer, but that may change if the west London club sign another striker before the transfer window’s closure.
He said: “At the moment, there’s nothing to suggest that Chelsea will allow that [Broja to leave], it’s obviously dependent on other situations.
“If Chelsea sign another striker, Broja could see his path blocked, if [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang comes in and Kai Havertz is already ahead of him, so that could still happen, that could be one of Lampard’s statement signings.
“I think they will be looking to make statement signings up top and in midfield.”
TIF Thoughts on Phillips’ comments…
We believe that Everton fans will be hoping that Chelsea sign another striker and are in a position to offload Broja to the Merseyside club so that Lampard will have short-term cover for Maupay whilst Calvert-Lewin is out injured.
The 14-cap Albania international, who has previously been described as “devastating” by Sergio Porrini, enjoyed a successful loan spell at Southampton last season, scoring six goals and providing one assist in 32 Premier League appearances, according to Transfermarkt.
The 6ft 3in striker makes good use of his height advantage, and this is shown by the fact that he ranks in the top 15% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues and European competitions for aerial duels won per 90 minutes (4.34) over the last 365 days, according to FBref.
Therefore, we believe that Lampard would be making a useful addition to the side if he was to add the services of the 20-year-old Chelsea striker this season, as he has already proven himself in the Premier League and would add a different dynamic up front to Maupay.