Sean Dyche hopes Armando Broja is close to his Everton debut, with the club hoping to speed up the on-loan Chelsea striker’s return from injury.
Broja joined Everton late on deadline day but has not played since an Achilles injury in pre-season scuttled a proposed move to Ipswich. The 23-year-old remains unavailable for Saturday’s home game against Brentford, but could feature in the Under-21s matches as he works his way back into fitness.
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The Everton manager said: “He’s done enough with us here and we can’t really replicate the feel of the games, so I’d prefer him for the 21s because it at least feels like a game. We’re just discussing next steps now. He’s had a really good week and a really good rehab, so hopefully that will allow us to accelerate a little bit more than we normally would.
Everton have the option to sign Broja on a permanent deal next summer and are in dire need of more firepower. Dyche hopes the Albanian international and Youssef Chermiti, another striker who has not played this season due to injury, will be available to resolve this issue before Christmas.
“We could achieve this,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see.” It wasn’t hard to be patient with him because you had no choice. Certain types of injuries make you think, “Come on, really? But we had to be careful because it was a tendon injury.
Everton’s potential new owner, the Friedkin Group, is awaiting approval from the Premier League for its takeover bid for Farhad Moshiri. Dyche says funds for reinforcements during the January window will likely remain limited unless this deal is completed before it opens.
“There’s no news,” he said of the buyout. “So we are working on the current situation of the club which is very, very reasonable financially. If the Friedkin group gets their hands on the club and succeeds, things could change. But at the moment we are working according to the guidelines that existed before.