Journalist Conor McGilligan believes Armando Broja wasn’t happy at Southampton during the second half of the season.
Spending the season on loan from Chelsea, the young striker caught the eye with some fine performances. However, having netted six league goals by February, he didn’t score again for the Saints after that point.
While he continued to play regularly for the side, he wasn’t quite at his best, and McGilligan has suggested that the player was unhappy in this period.
Indeed, while speaking on the One Leeds Fan channel, the writer tipped Broja to decide against a return to St Mary’s and become a great signing for Leeds United, amid his information that the forward was unhappy on the south coast.
He said: “I really, really like Armando Broja. There’s a lot of people saying ‘ah, he’s been rubbish for Southampton’, but it’s not just about him being rubbish for Southampton this second half of the season, it is about his characteristics that would fit into this Jesse Marsch system.
“It is where he would fit alongside some of our top-quality players as well. It’s his finishing ability. It’s all these things encompassed as well.
“It didn’t look like he was happy at Southampton for a while in the second half of the season – that’s from people I’ve spoken to. Apparently, he wasn’t happy at all.
“So we’ll have to wait and see whether or not that comes to fruition in terms of a future transfer potentially to Southampton. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
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It will be disappointing for Southampton fans to hear McGilligan dampen any hopes of a permanent switch from Chelsea, with his unhappiness supposedly playing a key role in that.
Interestingly enough, Broja’s form somewhat mimics the Saints’ form at the end of the season, too. While he stopped scoring, the club stopped winning, as only Watford took fewer points than Southampton’s five in the final 12 games of the campaign (via Daily Echo).
It certainly looks as though there is much doubt over the player’s future, but taking everything into account, it’s hard to see him committing another season to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s project – especially after he recently seemed to confirm on Instagram that he wouldn’t be returning.
In other news: Southampton keeping tabs on Man City ace