Mauricio Pochettino has compared Armando Broja’s situation to Harry Kane’s early days at Tottenham and told the Chelsea striker not to let speculation over his future affect his form.
Chelsea, who host Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday night, are willing to listen to offers for Broja before the transfer window shuts next Thursday. Fulham, Wolves and West Ham are monitoring the 22-year-old, although there are doubts over whether any can afford to sign him on a permanent basis.
The risk of selling Broja is that it could leave Pochettino short of options up front. Nicolas Jackson is representing Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Christopher Nkunku is struggling with a hip injury and one of Chelsea’s targets, Villa’s Jhon Durán, is out for several weeks with a hamstring injury. The situation is uncertain and Pochettino, who hopes to sign Napoli’s Victor Osimhen this summer, wants Broja to deal with the noise.
“It is part of the business, part of football,” Chelsea’s head coach said. “In the end, you can’t escape. If we want all the benefit of being in this club, Chelsea, we need to accept that it is a massive responsibility and this type of thing can happen. You are always going to be judged. It is normal. It is our job.
“If you want to be in this business and take the responsibility to play you need to accept that this is the business. If you’re a coach, staff or player and don’t have the capacity to deal or cope with the pressure it is difficult to be at the top. You can play football but maybe not at this level.”
Broja, who has scored twice this season, is trying to build momentum after returning from a knee injury. Pochettino looked back at his time at Spurs and thought about developing Kane, who had to go on several loans before establishing himself as one of the best strikers in the world.
“The potential is massive,” Pochettino said. “All the biggest strikers need time. When they are young, they need to find their own balance. But I believe that he has the potential to be an amazing striker.
“I always compare it to Harry Kane. He went on loan to Leyton Orient, Norwich and spent time finding his real balance. In our first six months he started to perform only in December and January and that’s when we started to see his real potential.”
Pochettino is striving to make Chelsea, who face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final next month, more consistent. His young side are unbeaten in nine home games before playing Villa, who won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League in September.
“Sometimes the players who are right here, they are so young, they believe they are king of the world,” the Argentinian said. “In a good way, without being arrogant, and then they realise through the period that is up and down, up and down. They start to realise that if we want to be a real team and compete for big things it is a process.”
