Mauricio Pochettino identifies 'amazing' striker at Cobham and compares him to £100m England star

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino says he sees traits of Harry Kane in Armando Broja and called for patience and time for the striker to fulfil his true potential. Broja has scored two in 18 appearances so far this campaign and has been linked with an exit from the club this transfer window. 

The London-born Albanian striker is the only out-and-out striker at the club now with Nicolas Jackson out in the Ivory Coast with Senegal. Christopher Nkunku who can also get the goals has been injured for the last four games and is only making his way back now. 

Chelsea are still alive in the Premier League, League Cup and they will take on Aston Villa in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge this evening. Asked what he thought of the striker's contribution so far, Pochettino said:  “All the biggest strikers needed time when they were young. They need to find their own balance. But I still believe that he has the potential to be an amazing striker.” 

“The process takes time. 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. 

“He’s a player that suffered a big injury last season, he needs to put that big idea behind him, always that is difficult. And we are at Chelsea, he is trying to deliver while compared with the biggest strikers like [Didier] Drogba, [Jimmy Floyd] Hasselbaink and others. That’s always difficult for a young guy."

Broja suffered a massive knee injury in December 2022 and missed 10 months but tonight he will lead the Chelsea line-up hoping to prove to his manager and the club that he can be their next big striker and lead them to the holy grail. Chelsea have been consistently linked to the likes of Victor Osimhen, Karim Benzema and even Brentford's Ivan Toney.