Southampton Set For Record Transfer Bid
According to the rumour mill, Saints are set to smash their transfer record to take Armando Broja on a permanent deal, however it is claimed they will face big competition from not only West Ham United but Newcastle..
The media has been buzzing this week with talk that Saints are looking to sign Armando Broja on a permanent basis and many pundits are now claiming that a club record transfer fee of around £25 million is to be offered.
But given that it is highly unlikely that Saints themselves are briefing the media about what they are and what they are not going to do, it is amazing how so many so called pundits have such insider information.
Certainly the two clubs have said little, certainly Ralph Hasenhuttl has indicated that any decision would be made in the summer claiming:
"In the end we need to make the best decision for the player, when it's a win, win, win for everybody, then we will find the right decision for the summer. As long as he is our player, we will have as much fun with him and make him better.”
That seems to suggest that both Saints and Chelsea are happy to wait until this loan deal is over and then discuss the options.
Thomas Tuchel had this to say :
"He is our player, he is doing good. But at the same time, it is only halfway through the season, so he needs to continue to improve and make his statement at Southampton."
That is very non committal from both manager's, that doesn't mean that a deal is not being discussed, but it shows that most of the transfer speculation is nothing more than that, just speculation.
Certainly it benefits the media to add a few other clubs into the frame, West Ham United have been claimed as about to make a late bid to snatch the player from Saints grasp and also Newcastle, but as we know the newly minted Geordies are linked with everything and the media would claim that they are signing Prince Harry if it gave them page hits.
A few weeks ago Broja was just getting on with his time at Saints, he was overshadowed by other players out on loan from Chelsea, notably Conor Gallagher at Crystal Palace, he has been raved about for the past couple of months yet doesn't seem to have attracted the same speculation this window that Broja has despite in scoring 7 League goals for the Eagles, having notched two more than his fellow loanee at Southampton.
Then there is also the question of whether Chelsea could actually sell him to West Ham this window, if there in no loan recall option then Saints would need to consent to letting him go back to Stamford Bridge by releasing him from the loan deal and only then could he be transferred to West Ham.
Chelsea seem to be happy with the current situation, although having dealt with Saints on two smooth transactions this season in the permanent moves of Tino Livramento & Dynel Simeu who left at the end of his contract, their is obviously contact between the two clubs.
That could be an advantage as Chelsea would want to have a similar buy back clause in place as they had with the Livramento , would West Ham or Newcastle be willing to have that clause inserted in the deal.
Finally there is the player himself, the media have also reported that his family themselves are very happy with the way Saints have treated him since he arrived and see that he has progressed since he has been here, they are said to be keen that he stays beyond this summer and that could be a big factor, although whether that means a further season long loan or a permanent move is unclear.
But the reality is that at the moment he is on loan, at the moment anything could happen, but as a starting point, both Saints, Chelsea & the player himself seem to want him to end the season here one way or another.
What to read next:
U's Vs Accrington Match Preview As the round of matches over the festive period draws to a close, we have the visit of Accrington Stanley on that most rare of events in our football history, a Sunday afternoon kick-off. If you filter out play-off and cup games, in the league this accounts for just 25 games since we were formed, seven won, six drawn and 12 lost. As you would imagine, Sunday games are generally focussed around Christmas and the New Year, or more recently, Sky-mandated final games of the season. It’s been a pretty positive holiday schedule for the U’s too, eight points from four games, and with other results often going our way, we’re now just two places and three points outside the play-offs.
U's Vs MK Dons Match Preview Happy New Year U’s fans! After two hard fought 1-1 draws away from home across the festive period we kick off the New Year with a home match against Milton Keynes. Tickets look to be selling well, although not in the West Stand it seems, so should be a decent crowd providing MK bring more than their normal coach load. I know it doesn’t count for anything but the calendar year League Two table has us in fifth with 72 points from 46 matches played so 2025 hasn’t been a bad year to be a U’s fan.
Gillingham Vs U's Match Preview First and foremost, I hope you are all having a pleasant Christmas break relaxing with family and friends, and wishing you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. This will be our final match of 2025, with a trip to Priestfield to face old adversary Gillingham, our second game against them this month and our third this season. This will be our 112th game in all competitions against the Gills, a relationship that started with a Ted Davis U’s side winning 2-0 at Layer Road on 27th August 1938. At the final whistle tomorrow we will also be at the halfway point of the season, so considering at the end of September we were 20th, plenty of optimism for the second half of the season.
Crawley Vs U's Match Preview Merry Christmas U’s fans! Boxing Day in proper football leagues means football matches and the U’s face one of their shortest trips of the season as they venture across the Thames to face creepy Crawley. Crawley’s “stadium” is one of the few grounds I’ve gone away with the U’s (the 3-1 League Cup win back in 2019) and it felt like a ground that should be in the National League South but Crawley have been established in the football league since 2011 with two promotions to League One during that time which is impressive given the relative size of the club. We don’t have a huge history against Crawley Town, with just 24 meetings to date of which Crawley have won 11. In fact since that memorable League Cup win we hadn’t managed to beat Crawley until the, not as memorable but probably more important, 3-2 away win towards the end of the 2023/24 season that went a long way to helping us stay in this division.
U's Vs Newport Match Preview And so, Danny and Nicky enter their second century of games managing the U’s, at home to struggling Newport – let’s hope it starts a bit better than the first century finished. There won’t be many games we score three and lose, trouble is there’ll be even fewer where we concede four and win. That being said, I couldn’t fault the first hour of the Salford game, with the U’s in control of a game against good opposition, and on a typically heavy pitch. Then we kind of fell apart, certainly defensively, helped in no small part by a masterclass from ex-U’s Luke Garbutt (how is he only in League 2?). Credit must also go to 250+ of the faithful, a long trip starting at stupid o’clock – they deserved more than that for their support.