Armando Broja: The Ronaldo-inspired youngster who is soaring at Southampton

Chelsea's signing of £97.5m striker Romelu Lukaku in the summer was supposed to be the final piece in the Blues' title-winning jigsaw.

But Lukaku has struggled to make the expected impact, scoring five goals in an injury-affected season, and Thomas Tuchel's side now find themselves 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, having played a game more.

The Belgian is still the club's highest-scoring forward this season but they do have another attacker on their books who has hit the back of the net as often as Lukaku.

Instead of impressing at Stamford Bridge, however, he is catching the eye on the south coast.

A product of the Blues' famed academy, English-born Armando Broja is enjoying an excellent loan spell at Southampton.

The 20-year-old has five goals in 18 appearances — the youngest player to reach that tally in the current Premier League campaign — with the 6ft 2ins striker reaping the rewards of a decision to spend this term on loan at the Saints.

Football-mad from when he was a child watching clips of Brazil legend Ronaldo, Broja is living his dream on the big stage after emerging as one of the standout talents of the season.

Born in Slough to Albanian parents, football has been a part of Broja's life from as a long as he can remember.

He'd play regularly with his cousins, mum and aunt in the park as a toddler, and while he was part of the youth teams of professional clubs his dad would take him for extra one-on-one training sessions after he had finished work.

Broja was incredibly driven even as a child and at the age of six he had ambitions of playing for the best of the best.

«I went on a few trials with Reading,» he said in an interview in 2019.external-link «It went well there and I enjoyed it but at the time I was