Thomas Tuchel is struggling for attacking options at Chelsea with four of his current group seemingly wanting to leave the club whilst Romelu Lukaku has already exited.
Though the Belgian's departure was for the benefit of the club as a whole, Tuchel is still working with some players that he believes aren't committed to him, making life in pre-season extremely tough for the German manager.
Not only is trying to implement Raheem Sterling in a new system that his squad is currently not built for, he has to balance preparing players that don't have a long-term future with the short-term aim of starting the season well.
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Of last season's forwards, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech would all like a move away from Chelsea, whilst returning loanee Armando Broja is less than happy with his current outlook. The Albanian had been close to a permanent move to West Ham only for the Blues to shut the door and make the transfer tough, expressing their desire to keep him.
For Tuchel, who is a big fan of Broja's, it would have been a big loss as he is the most natural striker in the squad right now. His six goals for Southampton were a good example of his clinical nature as well as a mirror into what he could do in a better team.
However, Broja remains unconvinced of the pathway that would result in him becoming a first team regular at Stamford Bridge, though given Chelsea's need to sign more defenders, midfielders and wingers before dealing with strikers, he could be in a good position to have a crack at becoming Tuchel's go to man up front.
He has also been backed to succeed by former Tottenham striker Darren Bent, who said: "Why have they not brought Broja back?" Speaking on TalkSport, he added: "He’s a perfect centre-forward. It looks like they are going to let him go. Give him a go. If they create chances for him, he will score goals. He showed that at Southampton.”
Broja scored his six goals from an xG of 7.0 last season whereas Werner, Ziyech and Kai Haverz all underperformed their xG by a larger proportion, adding to Tuchel's goalscoring problems.
Havertz is now expected to start the season as Chelsea's main No.9, though Broja will be breathing down his neck for minutes and former Crystal Palace midfielder Darren Ambrose believes that the 20-year-old is already a better option: “I think he should be their No 9. At No 9, I’d play him ahead of Havertz," he said.
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