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.

Photo: Action Images

TimSaint added 11:07 - Nov 17 I suspect he may be more willing to come back to us, now that Ralph has left. Don't forget RH threw Broja under the bus and singled him out as the reason why we as a team, dipped so drastically in form at the back end of last season. If he comes, he may be able to play in his preferred role in a front 2, rather than the bizarre and often negatively defensive set ups that RH was keen to implement, once he ditched the high press.

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pwithers123 added 11:21 - Nov 17 Remember that RH had to go through period where he had to " encourage " Broja to work much harder and take on his pressing duties. I did feel that Broja dropped off his work rate For high press to work then entire team has to press - if that does not happen - then more players have to be played deeper - OR the wide players and central defenders have to get up and back much quicker - Last years central defenders were not as quick as the guys we now have this year - however - against that - our fastest wing backs are both injured

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underweststand added 14:47 - Nov 17 Broja, like the rest of the team, went off the rails at the back end of last season, but after his lightning start I do feel that Ralph was in part correct in his criticism/assessment, - although for someone who'd never played proper Prem. football in September he found the going tough after Christmas when opposition defences had sussed him out. OK -- He did have a slight injury problem and didn't recover his full fitness and his poor performances didn't improve when Ralph tried to play him as a lone striker. He clearly isn't a regular starter for Chelsea and both of his managers this season have consigned him to the bench and used him sparingly as a sub. Q- Do I think he'd do better with Saints?..asan individual he'd certainly get more game time but despite his good showing early last season I think " the jury is still out ". A half-season loan with an option to buy ?..maybe a good solution for all concerned. At least he offers a bit of muscle and height to our undersized forward line, but I'd still like to sign a 6 foot plus striker with an established goal-scoring record to feel safer.

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Block8 added 17:54 - Nov 17 Think this is a non starter, he is in the Chelsea squad as they have no one else and I'm not convinced he is what we need. he is still learning and we need the finished article!
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WestSussexSaint added 18:26 - Nov 17 I agree with Block8 in that he is only getting on the bench at Chelsea after they shipped out Lukaku and Werner in the summer. If they splash the cash in January on whatever striker stars at the World Cup then his limited game time will be even more restricted. I don’t have a good enough feel for what Nathan Jones is looking for to know if he would see Broja as an option. NJ was certainly bigging up Adams after the Liverpool match so likely a loaned in Broja would still play second fiddle to Adams anyway.

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SaintPaulVW added 16:50 - Nov 18 He never played 90 minutes for us even when he was on the pitch all game. Move on
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SFC_Referee added 20:30 - Nov 18 Only got 6 goals in the league last season, with Adams getting more goals with 7… Says it all really as it’s not like he was creating loads and doing some amazing runs etc, and is simply being hyped up due to the fact that he plays for Chelsea, hence how they wanted like £30mil for an unproven Prem goal scorer than only got 6 the previous season! At the end of the day we need a PROVEN and RELIABLE goal scorer, not another risk/one for the future. So unless we’re gonna be signing another 2/3 forwards as well as him, then we shouldn’t be going back for him.

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