The will he won't he aspect of this summer in the case of Armando Broja is further compounded by the fact that Chelsea still haven't made up their mind whether to keep him at the club next season or not, but there is said to be another key factor.

West Ham United & Everton have been linked with Armando Broja for the past two months and they have been joined by Newcastle United who have the money to pay whatever Chelsea want without blinking, but the question there is whether the London club would be willing to sell him to who they perceive as a rival next season.

But Broja is said to want first team football next season and is seeking assurances from Chelsea about his position at the club, but so far the Blues have sat on the fence and have made no decision.

Some of the rumours are saying that Broja does not want another loan deal, that is is either install him in the first team squad at Chelsea and give him the opportunity to impress or sell him and this is likely to come to a head in the next week.

But that would not be the end of the matter for Chelsea if Broja chooses to leave, as we have seen with the players we have signed from the Stamford Bridge club, they may not be quite sure about Broja at the moment, but they want to hedge their bets if they sell him and that means sell on & buy back clauses.

This may discourage the three clubs said to be interested, they have money to spend and will want to put it down on the nail, especially Newcastle who with Saudi Arabian owners will be subservient to no man.

But there is one factor that most are overlooking and that is Southampton's connections to not only Broja but the player himself.

The media are saying that Saints are in a position to buy him on a permanent basis and they have no issues with the clauses that may be added, it is all part of their strategy, but it doesn't stop there, to quote several media sources:

"Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken openly of his admiration for the attacker and the pair enjoyed a good relationship during the recent loan spell."

That was borne out by what was coming out of the club and the player during his time at St Mary's, it is said his family play a big part in any decisions he makes and that his family were impressed by how he was treated and brought on as a player by Saints.

Indeed in contrast some fans suggest his poor form at the end of the season was down to Ralph Hasenhuttl messing around with the line up, that could well be true, but perhaps the reason behind that was more about trying to get Broja back into form more than what others were doing, it didn't work Broja did not find his previous form, but he and his family appreciated the efforts that Hasenhuttl put in to try and get him back to scoring ways.

Another connection is his agent, he is handled by First Active Sports, they also handle Dynel Simeu who joined Saints last year and another player in the B team at St mary's Oliver Wright, not to mention ex Saint Ryan Bertrand who is a consultant for the company.

Broja is said to be seeking assurances from Chelsea by the end of the month, if he doesn't get them he will want to leave and although for some like Newcastle will hope that money talks, for Broja it may be a little more than that, he will want to go to a settled club he knows, with a settled manager, he won't have that at either Newcastle or Everton.

Much is made of the Lampard connection, but it is not a close one, Lampard left Chelsea in 2014 when Broja was 12, it is unlikely that Lampard had much to do with the schoolkid level teams he returned to Chelsea as manager in 2019 and would have had dealings with him then, but he was not a prodigy although he did give him his debut as a late sub off the bench ironically at Everton.

So perhaps Armando Broja is on his way back to Southampton, there is a twist or two yet.

Photo: Action Images

JoeEgg added 12:41 - Jul 7 "Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken openly of his admiration for the attacker and the pair enjoyed a good relationship during the recent loan spell." Pure speculation. Ralph changed the system and starved Broja of the kind of service he needed to score goals. When will you stop defending RH? So many promising players suddenly lost their form, not to mention the likes of Walcott and Redmond, skillful players who rarely delivered under Ralph. Tho whole team was atrocious during the last few months of the season and failed to perform to their best ability and form.

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IWOZTHERE added 13:24 - Jul 7 Seconded Joe.... although I don't think Ralph was responsible for Theo's loss of form? He was finished before he came here...... I've always said that the only way we'd get Broja was if he (and we) had a really strong season, and he REALLY wanted to come here.
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beynali73 added 16:05 - Jul 7 Poor Ralph is going to be so confused with all the new players coming in.....
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JoeEgg added 16:58 - Jul 7 "He reports that Broja is ‘open’ to the idea of arriving at St James’ Park this summer, suggesting we may be able to get this deal done if Thomas Tuchel does allow the 20-year-old to leave." Another interesting twist!
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wrathoftazz added 21:49 - Jul 7 He WONT sign, not as long as Ralph is the manager.
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PeterL22 added 09:59 - Jul 8 From Borja’s point of view (wanting game time), Saints are the best bet. West Ham have Antonio who is first choice and Newcastle have several options- so he won’t be number one centre forward at either - whereas Saints don’t have a true number 9 (neither Adams or Armstrong are true sole strikers). Besides, Newcastle is Newcastle and why go there at all unless you have too!

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