Town’s loan move for Chelsea striker Armando Broja is close to breaking down.

Earlier in the week, the Blues agreed a season-long loan for the the 22-year-old with the move set to become permanent if Town stay up in a deal worth an overall £30 million.

Broja was at Portman Road for his medical and to complete the formalities on Wednesday with the expectation that the switch would subsequently be confirmed.

But since then the club has continued to work on the due diligence and paperwork relating to deal and, as per The Guardian, with matters dragging on, the move is now in danger of breaking down completely. Town are understood to be looking at other options.

Broja was initially linked with Town early on the summer before reports that Town had made a loan approach emerged just over a week ago.

The prospect of the move happening was played down by various sources, however, we understand the player and his representatives visited Playford Road on Friday and that appears to have swung things in Town’s direction.

Slough-born Broja, who is 6ft 3in tall, moved to Stamford Bridge from Tottenham’s youth set-up in 2009.

Since then, he has spent time on loan at Vitesse, Southampton and Fulham, while making 11 starts and 27 sub appearances, scoring three goals for his parent club.

His stint with the Saints saw him net nine times in 24 starts and 14 games from the bench, while the spell at Fulham in the second half of last season saw him make only eight sub appearances without finding the net.

Capped by Albania at full level 23 times, scoring five goals, and featuring at Euro 2024.

Broja had previously been linked with a move to Everton and it’s understood the Toffees remain keen.

Photo: Nderim Kaceli/IPA Sport / ipa-agency.net/IPA/Sipa USA

BurleysGloryDays added 11:41 - Aug 24 Oh dear
1

SuffPunch added 11:42 - Aug 24 I'm not to bothered about this signing.
5

Andy32Cracknell added 11:44 - Aug 24 Ashton, McKenna and the team will do what is right for the club and the team. If something is not quite right with the deal then it either gets sorted or we move on. We ain’t talking about £1.5 million no more, this is a potential £30 million punt deal. Needs to be spot on in every aspect.
27

Radlett_blue added 11:45 - Aug 24 Perhaps his agent has told him that Everton are a better bet for him?
-1

FreddySteady added 11:47 - Aug 24 I’m not convinced by this signing either. The club haven’t made many mistakes but this doesn’t feel right.
7

RIPbobby added 11:50 - Aug 24 I think if we pull off a massive result and get something at the Etihad today the players contingent will give in and accept what we want out of the deal. Presumably it has something to do with a payment of some kind. If we lose then the deal will collapse.
1

dirtydingusmagee added 11:51 - Aug 24 Ashton is no mug if something dosnt smell right he will sniff it out.
11

prebbs007 added 11:51 - Aug 24 an issue was highlighted in his medical is the rumour.... we can't take any risks, especially at 30+million, 3 goals in 38 appearances for Chelski so not exactly proficient, feel we can definitely do better than him anyway but MA will have it covered I'm sure. ITFC Forever
1

billlm added 11:57 - Aug 24 If it's a fitness issue that's ok, paperwork not so this guy has potential, if he ends up at Everton that's not good
0

Broadbent23 added 11:57 - Aug 24 £30m is too much unless he scores 15 goals per season. He has the build, age and height. But Chelsea are desperate to off load him. Something fishy so best to abort.
3

GTRKing added 11:59 - Aug 24 Sadly something happened during his medial & with the £30 Million mandatory fee if we stay up! I think it’s right the club move on & find someone else! I am sure we got other targets! These things happen in football
1

blues1 added 12:08 - Aug 24 Has nothing to do with his medical. It was announced he's passed the medical. If he hadnt it would have been called off days ago.
2

Monkey_Blue added 12:09 - Aug 24 Where are you guys getting the information that there is an issue with his medical? If it’s “Paperwork” that wouldn’t point to a medical problem. If it’s a medical problem we would be re-negotiating. I think he’s the perfect type of striker for how we play, powerful, physical and quick. However if things aren’t right I’m sure we have other options. It’s pointless to speculate on what the problem is and if it’s us, Chelsea or the player that’s going to pull the plug. Nobody on here knows the problem or facts.

2

runningout added 12:12 - Aug 24 some are not meant to be. We had a few in the past we should have smelt at early stage
0

Monkey_Blue added 12:16 - Aug 24 We should all stop listening to the club and people involved in the deal and just believe people who aren’t involved at all who post on this message board then? If you actually know it’s a problem with the medical please let us know how you know this? I’m assuming you conducted the medical or are senior employees of the club on the football operations side. I don’t get the psychological need to state things you can’t possibly know? Do you need attention that much?

4

raycrawfordswig added 12:27 - Aug 24 BBC Broja deal to stall likely to be hijacked as it’s very slow
-1

Rozeeboy74 added 12:29 - Aug 24 A mate of mine saw him for Chelsea againt Wolves and he was awful. May have been an off day. I trust McKenna.
0

BeattiesBackPocket added 12:31 - Aug 24 People need to remember the Szmodics deal took 4 weeks to negotiate. If it happens it happens but personally glad they’ve also got other options as well and won’t be held to ransom. This deal is probably more complicated than any other because it’s not just this season we have to negotiate what happens if we stay up and what his wages will be from then on and for how many years etc.

0

herfie added 12:34 - Aug 24 Risk v reward. Given the potential sums involved, and the player’s scoring record, it might be the club has concluded the potential deal leans more towards the former. One of those deals that never really convinced me was in our best interests; including the player’s commitment to it.
0

bringmeaKuqi added 12:42 - Aug 24 Fotis Ioannidis is still at Panathinaikos and scored a brilliant goal in the week. Maybe MA read my comment about him being £5m cheaper and is having second thoughts ;)
1

Suffolkboy added 12:59 - Aug 24 We’re all interested in Town making progress and hiccoughs along the way are inevitable. No doubt with all the work and planning which has gone ahead of this ‘move’ , MA and KM will be frustrated. AB seems not to have publicly said anything - so we wait and see ! ITFC is a great place to belong , great Management Team from the top down and we’ve no reason to start along the road of compromise! COYB

0

bobble added 13:01 - Aug 24 His legs are gone..
0

ArnieM added 13:02 - Aug 24 It’s dead in the water. Move on there’s not much time left in this window to get a striker in and we’ve been trying all window!
-1

Ipswichbusiness added 13:04 - Aug 24 How much did Delap cost? Was it £20 million? Why are we paying £30 million for this chap, especially when Chelsea are desperate to sell? (They have lots of players that they need to unload.). Hopefully, it is a case of Mark Ashton playing hardball.
1

Linkboy13 added 13:12 - Aug 24 People making comments on without knowing the true facts. As for the ability of the player himself i don't think McKenna would be interested if he's as bad as some experts are saying on here. He's only 22 years old and still learning and we all know McKenna's preference is to work with younger talent.
1

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