It looks like wherever Armando Broja plies his trade next season, it doesn't look like it will be at St Mary's after he posted a farewell message to Saints on his Instagram account as he prepares to return to Chelsea his parent club.

Armando Broja was left out of the squad for the trip to Leicester City and it seems that he has played his last match for Saints judging by his farewell on Instagram, the now Ex Saints loanee had this to say.

“I just want to start off by saying what a great season for me and my family personally.

“A season full of ups and downs but no matter what I had family and amazing people to help me get through it.

“I also want to say a massive thank you to Southampton and the amazing fans for allowing me and having the belief in me to showcase what I can do.”

“I appreciate all the support and love you showed me and the team.

“Finally I want to say thank you so much to the players you guys taught me so much this year.

“I loved every minute with you lads it was honestly something special to me. You have not only become brothers to me but also family. I will miss you guys!”

Whilst being a clear farewell message, you would expect this type of message having finished his loan spell, with Chelsea's future as a club still uncertain Broja himself has a very uncertain future himself, not knowing whether he will have to remain at Chelsea under contract if the current situation continues or whether there will be any concrete offers from elsewhere.

Back in January his stock was high after a flurry of goals, however he has scored only twice in the Premier League since before Xmas and the last of those goals came in the victory at Spurs on February 9th, although he did score in the FA Cup against West Ham on 2nd March.

Indeed his 6 goals for the club in the Premier League all came in a 3 1/2 month spell between his opener against Leeds on October 16th and his final goal against Spurs as mentioned on 2nd March.

If we look further he scored the first 4 goals in two months from mid October to mid December, since scoring at Crystal Palace on December 15th he has netted just twice in 19 league appearances, not a great record in terms of goals per games, Shane Long's 1 goal in 14 appearances is better.

In truth 6 goals in 21 starts and another 11 appearances as a sub is not a great ratio either, basically one in 5 games and that is not the type of strike rate that gets you big money transfers or for that matter even in Chelsea's first team squad.

The perception of Armando Broja's time at St Mary's is that it has been a great success, the truth is barring that two month purple patch when he scored 4 goals in 9 games, his time here has been decidedly average and in the last couple of months that is even pushing it a bit.

It cannot be denied that Broja has talent, but if he isn't scoring goals then he isn't contributing, he is not a striker that creates space for others or lays on chances, he is an out and out striker end of.

He does have time on his side to learn, he is still only 20 and to be blunt with the state of our coaching set up, he wasn't going to get the coaching he needed here, he would have to learn for himself.

I see him going out on loan again next season, that purple patch will have done enough for his reputation to get him a good club to take him on loan, but with the likes of Arsenal & West ham linked earlier in the season, Chelsea are not likely to want to loan him to what they will see as their rivals and would probably prefer another club of the stature of Saints.

But would we want him back ?

That would still be seen to be decided, Saints persevered with Broja when he really should not have been a starter in the side, that was at the expense of Che Adams who had a better scoring record and would undoubtably have scored more if he had not been left out for Broja at times and also Adam Armstrong who might have found a goal or two and his confidence had he been given a chance.

But those 6 goals were still crucial for Saints and ultimately we needed his purple patch, I think he will go on to have a good career in the game, he is still young and can learn, but is he truly Premier League quality in terms of playing for a top 6 club ?

I would say no, his all round game is not good enough, but he does have a nose for a goal if he is given the ball in the right positions, certainly I could compare him with another player we had on loan Michail Antonio.

Antonio was average in his 14 starts and 14 games as sub for Saints back in 2009/10 and that was in League One, his goal for the club at Wembley in the Johnstones Paint Trophy Final will give him some sort of cult status, but nobody saw him having the career he has had since.

He too turned 20 whilst at St Mary's as did Broja, after leaving us and going back to Reading his parent club, Broja did not exactly shine, in 2011 he went to Colchester on loan and then Sheffield Wednesday who eventually got him on a free transfer in 2012.

A couple of average seasons with 12 goals wasn't tearing things up and he went to Nottingham Forest for £1.5 million and suddenly at 24 his career finally took off and a year later he went to West ham and the rest as they say is history.

So will Armando Broja be a player that will find instant success or will he like Antonio be a slow burner.

Good luck to Armando Broja, he did a job for us, I wish him well, but I am not sure that he had a great season for us. it had that purple patch, but other than that there are some who have given Adam Armstrong & Shane Long stick !

Photo: Action Images

geezershoong1 added 16:37 - May 23 'Get me the fook outta here'...
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