Armando Broja is set to miss Chelsea’s pre-season opener against Club America due to injury, Thomas Tuchel has confirmed after providing an update on the forward’s condition.
Broja, who flew out late to meet the rest of the squad due to paperwork issues, was pictured with a protective boot earlier this week in training, raising concerns that he had picked up an issue while on their pre-season tour of the United States.
The 20-year-old was absent from the club’s open training session at the Allegiant Stadium on Friday evening, but Tuchel offered an explanation for the Albania international missing training.
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He told reporters in a media conference in Las Vegas: "He had a little accident yesterday in training with the ball control and landed in a funny way on his ankle and Achilles.
“He is in pain but nothing is injured – we did the examinations and it's just pain.
"He is lucky that he did not get injured. We are lucky and happy that he did not injure himself.
"He is not in training and he is in treatment, Armando.”
This all but rules him out of the pre-season fixture against Club America, with Chelsea no doubt hoping it is a minor problem which will allow him to feature in the final two games of the US tour against Charlotte FC and Arsenal next week.
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But Broja is in the spotlight this week due to his uncertain future at Stamford Bridge.
West Ham and Everton have submitted bids for the striker, who spent the season on loan at Southampton last season, but Chelsea are yet to make a decision over his future.
Broja only signed a long-term extension last summer and Tuchel has reiterated that Chelsea currently have no interest in letting him leave.
He added: "Armando is our player first of all and we have, at the moment, no interest in selling him.
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"He is here to make an impression after he was on loan in Southampton.
“That's his situation from where we look up front. It's good if there's interest as it shows us there's talent and potential.
"It shows us that Armando is in the position to impress and become a Chelsea player. When will he become a Chelsea player? Nobody knows but hopefully as soon as possible.
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“He got injured and there's a delay for him, which is never nice because a young player should normally make an impression from the first minute in pre-season.
"Now we have a bit of a delay in that but that's the situation.”
Topics: Armando Broja, Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel
Matthew Debono