Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea have enough depth in the squad to cope without Armando Broja after the striker joined Fulham on loan for the remainder of the season.
With Broja behind Nicolas Jackson in the pecking order and Chelsea planning to sign a new striker in the summer, the decision was made to encourage offers for the 22-year-old academy graduate, who was initially valued at £50m.
Chelsea accepted no team would meet such a demand late in the window and ultimately agreed to a straight loan with Fulham – a move Pochettino believes should not impact his squad over the next six months.
“I think it is important to recover Christoph [Nkunku] and today arrived Nico Jackson [back from the Africa Cup of Nations], and then also sometimes we forget but Deivid Washington is here with us,” Pochettino told Friday’s press conference.
“The options we have up front, I think, is enough.”
Chelsea are expected to spend big in the summer, with Napoli’s Victor Osimhem among the top targets. The Nigeria international’s contract contains a release clause worth over £100m.
In the meantime, however, Pochettino will keep his faith in Nkunku and Jackson. The latter has returned from international duty and could return to the starting lineup on Sunday against Wolves, but Chelsea will be cautious with Nkunku as he nears a full recovery from injury.
“It’s good to see him,” Pochettino said of Nkunku, who scored off the bench against Liverpool in midweek. “But we need to anticipate things. 45 minutes was good. After, we wanted to work a little bit more after the game but he can’t. We didn’t because 45 minutes was enough for him. We need to analyse and assess him to see if he can start the next game.
“When we see the result of things, we need to put everything in context. We hope he can cope with the demand of the game and maybe he can play more than 45 minutes. We need to keep working with him after six or seven months, it is always difficult for a player. But he showed that he had one chance and was able to score a great goal and show his quality.”
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