Chelsea agree £20m deal to sell forgotten striker Armando Broja to Premier League new boys
The Blues are said to have reached an agreement with the newly-promoted Clarets on a fee of up to £20million.
2
Armando Broja is set to sign for Burnley
Credit: Getty
The deal would give
books
after a busy
summer
of recruitment.
And Broja, 23, would have the chance to revive a career stalled by injury and unsuccessful loan spells.
The
Albania
international is a product of the Chelsea academy, so any transfer fee would be pure profit for the purposes of financial rules.
The same applied to homegrown Blues defender Bashir Humphreys, who joined
Burnley
for an initial £12m earlier this summer after spending last season on loan with the Clarets.
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Broja is thought to be open to a move to Turf Moor as he seeks a new start.
The centre forward was born in
Broja was a star of the Blues' youth team, winning a treble of under-18 Premier League, Premier
League Cup
and FA Youth Cup in 2017/18.
After making his first-team debut in March 2020, the frontman spent a season on loan at partner club Vitesse Arnhem in
Holland
.
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2
Broja became the first Albanian to score in the Premier League during his year at Southampton in 2021/22.
But he suffered a serious knee injury in a friendly against
winter
World Cup in
Qatar
.
How Nicolas Jackson could make £80m Newcastle switch | Transfers Exposed
Broja slipped down the pecking order at
Stamford Bridge
as the new owners went on a spending spree.
His last Premier League goal came in October 2023 against
He joined the Cottagers on loan for the second half of the 2023/24 season, but did not start a league game.
Broja went to
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Irish Examiner
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Jim Williams recalls Munster move: 'It was one of the best decisions I ever made'
A visit to Australia by the British & Irish Lions always offers former Wallaby Jim Williams an opportunity to reflect, both on his experience of playing against the tourists and the doors it opened for a career-defining move to Munster. It is 24 years ago that Williams captained a Brumbies side including Stephen Larkham against a Lions team featuring Munster icons and soon-to-be clubmates Ronan O'Gara and David Wallace and then tasted victory over Graham Henry's 2001 tourists in an Australia A jersey. Two months later, having been overlooked for the Test series after 14 caps and a place in the 1999 World Cup-winning squad, the No.8 was making his debut in red in a pre-season friendly for Declan Kidney's side at Musgrave Park against London Irish. Williams played 74 times for Munster, became the province's captain before transitioning to an assistant coach under Kidney in the historic 2005-06 season at the end of which the Heineken Cup was lifted for the first time. By the time he left for home to take up the same role with the Wallabies at the end of the 2007-08, 'Seamus' was a Munster icon in his own right and now 56 he has not forgotten the impact his seven years in Ireland has made on him. Williams is no longer involved in rugby, choosing lifestyle over coaching professionally with a career change to a government job and moving south of Sydney to Woolongong. Yet the 2025 Lions tour drew him back in once more, if only from his sofa. "It's been excellent," he told the Irish Examiner before settling down for the final Test last Saturday. "I mean I love the Lions tours, doesn't matter where they are and where they're playing, it's always something that I try not to miss." Shane Horgan, Leinster, in action against Munster's Jim Williams, 6, and Ronan O'Gara in the Celtic League Final 2001. Pic: Matt Browne, Sportsfile Playing against the 2001 Lions was a significant moment for Williams. "It was my first introduction to Ronan O'Gara and guys like that. It certainly holds special memories, and the game down in Canberra (with the Brumbies) was excellent. "We got really close to beating them that night, great atmosphere, and all those special memories certainly of that Lions tour when they came out in 2001. "And I joined Munster straight after that Lions tour.' Williams credits a young adult life as an amateur player for helping him to settle so successfully at Munster. He joined the Australian Army at 17, also worked as a plumber and had a season in English club rugby at West Hartlepool in the mid-nineties. "I didn't play professional rugby until I was 30, with the Brumbies. I suppose that might have helped a little bit, being a little bit more mature, and moving with my partner at the time wasn't a big deal because it was the two of us. "So it wasn't a massive move, but I certainly did take the time, and I had a lot of advice from John Langford at the time about Munster. "I did have a few other offers in France and I just thought basically going to an English-speaking place over in Europe was probably on my mind. "And the fact that it was Munster and John Langford had been there and had raved about it an had been so well accepted and had been successful himself, it really wasn't an issue about where I was going to go after that. "It was always going to be Munster from there on in, and certainly it worked out that way. It was just a wonderful time of my life." For Munster supporters, memories of Williams the powerful ball carrier and tackler with excellent leadership qualities tend to stand out, yet the man himself equally cherishes the dressing room camaraderie he felt as a player and his time as a coach under Kidney, when the province finally lifted the Heineken Cup. 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