By Daniel Feliciano

28th Sep, 2022 | 10:21am

Scouting expert: Armando Broja can make Chelsea breakthrough with Graham Potter

We’re delighted to welcome Football Manager’s Wolves researcher Dave Azzopardi as our exclusive columnist. Each week the scouting expert will be giving his views on the biggest talking points on Wonderkids across the UK…

Armando Broja could be the answer to Chelsea and Graham Potter’s striker problem this season after the manager’s arrival from Brighton.

Potter took over at Stamford Bridge earlier this month but hasn’t taken charge of a Premier League game yet owing to postponements and the international break.

But after leading a Brighton team to success despite their lack of a natural striker, Azzopardi believes the young squad with experience is something he will love and he’s tipped Broja to be the one to benefit most from the new boss.

“It’s interesting because there are a lot of established first-team players at Chelsea with Premier League experience that are really young,” he told The Football Wonderkids.

“Think about players like Reece James. It will be interesting to see how he gets on, because Potter tended to use a back five system at Brighton more recently and if he carries on implementing that at Chelsea then I think James on the right could be really interesting.

“It would be really interesting to see Conor Gallagher who had a good Premier League season last year. He got a red card a couple of weeks ago but it’s almost like a fresh start for him now with a new manager.

“Armando Broja as well. He had a decent season with Southampton last year. These are all players who have got at least one Premier League season behind them but are still under the age of 23.

“Graham Potter has got plenty of quality there but still experienced young players as well. So I’m really intrigued to see how Armando Broja can get on.

“I know he’s behind players like Aubameyang and maybe even Kai Havertz as a forward option, but we saw with Brighton over the last couple of years that they create a hell of a lot of chances but didn’t have the right striker there to put those chances away.

“We saw their xG, it was sky high compared to some teams but they just couldn’t win matches. So with Graham Potter now, if he can have that same effect but now with established forwards, or with a young player like Broja who can add goals to his CV, it will be interesting to see how they get on.

“But he’s got a good blend of experience and youth in that team. Chelsea over the years have come through some top young players.

“You’ve even got Chukwuemeka who they signed from Aston Villa, so it will be intriguing to see if Potter tries to implement him into the first-team some time soon.”

In other Chelsea news, the club are open to a £30m outlay for Fulham starlet Luke Harris