Saints have been missing a striker this season after failing to land one in the summer, with the January window renowned for permanent deals being over priced will Saints look to bring in a familiar face on loan from Chelsea.
Armando Broja was considered a hit by Southampton fans last season despite his goals drying up in the second half of the season, so the question is could he return to the club in the January transfer window, one man who would certainly hope so is Albanian FA chief Armand Duka who feels it would be better for the striker to be playing more regularly.
He told Italian media outlet Tutto Mercato:
"It’s true [he is not playing regularly]. It was better when he was at Southampton where he was starting almost always in the starting line-up.
"Now he plays 15, 20 minutes every game and it is not quite the same as playing 90.”
"I care that he plays and that he feels good — I don’t care where, but of course, if he plays for Milan, even better because I am a bit of a Milan fan.”
Broja's game time at Chelsea has been limited, of their 14 Premier League games he has been in the squad 13 times, but he has only managed 2 appearances in the starting line up, plus 10 off the bench for brief cameo rolls, in total he has managed just 286 minutes of football, around 20% of the total game time available to him, scoring just once.
In the Champions League of Chelsea's 6 games he is yet to start one, but again has come of the bench in 5 of them for a total of 111 minutes, again around 20% of the total minutes he could have played.
Contrast that with the time he would have got if he had returned to St Mary's in the summer and it is clear why Armando Duka is concerned about his international future.
For their part Chelsea are said to consider him part of their long term future, but that does not help in in the short term, at 21 he is at the age where he is has got experience behind him and now needs to be playing regularly.
He needs to go out and get a track record of scoring goals at the top level, he hasn't really got that at Chelsea and is going to struggle to be able to do so with so little game time, especially if Chelsea's new owners continue to flex their transfer muscle.
So could he return to Saints in January on loan, there is a good chance that he might be more willing to leave Stamford Bridge for half a season than a full season, although he might not be keen to leave permanently, the short term might well suit him, especially in a Chelsea team who in 8th place have lost touch with the Top 4 after losing the last 3 and drawing the other 2 of their last 5 Premier League matches.
If Broja can't break into a team that is failing, then he has to ask serious questions about whether he is going to spend the next few seasons on good money but ultimately a fringe player, or whether he want to truly prove himself at Premier League level.'
If Broja does go out on loan there will be no shortage of takers, but perhaps Southampton will suit him, he knows most of the squad and it is an easy commute from his home, the question is whether Saints themselves would want him back.