“I aspire to become the icon of Albania”. These words would seem audacious if they did not belong to a footballer who, despite his youth, has already become accustomed to star covers with a mixture of controversy and hope. And perhaps it is those wild aspirations that they still catapult confidence from many clubs in Armando Broja (Slough, England, 2001). Everton, Milan and Wolfsburg, among other clubs, are these days before the Euro Cup considering paying an amount close to 30 million for this tall striker, whose progression still circulates in the realms of unknown. Above all, after a cruciate break that he suffered at the end of 2022, when he seemed to have gained Tuchel’s trust.
This serious injury has somewhat dulled the star that made him one of the greats several seasons ago. goalscoring promises for the Stamford Bridge fans. I needed minutes at a lower level and In January he was loaned by Mauricio Pochettino. No less than 50 clubs in Europe had requested his loan, including Víctor Orta’s Sevilla. The English preferred him to stay in the Premier and close to home: between Craven Cottage, Fulham’s stadium, and Stamford Bridge are less than three kilometers away.
Transferred in Vitesse of the Netherlands and Southampton of the Premier in 20-21 and 21-22, Thomas Tuchel decided to keep him for Chelsea in 22-23. Broja did not take long to respond to the confidence of the German coach and the October 8 he scored his first goal as forward blue, against Wolverhampton. And then came the annoying cruciate tear.
Son of Albanian emigrants to the British Isles, Broja has shown as many conditions to score goals as little temperance to stay on the teams. Before expanding the categories Tottenham’s inferiorsat just 8 years old, he had already tried Reading and Fulham. Two years after arriving at the Spurs He went to Chelsea, where he would stand out like almost no one until he became one of the great offensive references of his quarry.
England has tried to recruit Armando for his youth teams repeatedly, but he was always clear that he wanted to play for the country of his parents. He passed by Sub-19 and the red and black Sub-21 before debut in 2020 with the absolute: too many twists and turns in this story? By then, still He had not turned 18 years old.
“Why has Sylvinho called up a striker who has scored just two goals in the last year?” the Albanian press asked after knowing the final list of the coach for Euro 2024. The Brazilian coach has suffered in recent months with Broja physical problems and the little continuity derived from a serious injury and maintained doubts about whether to bring him to Germany until the last minute. But he finally decided on it and responded: against Liechtenstein, in the penultimate prepatory Before traveling to the Euro, he scored 1-0. He remains Albania’s greatest hope.
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