Fulham have completed the signing of Armando Broja on loan from Chelsea until the end of the 2023/24 season.
Chelsea have been hoping to bring Broja off before Thursday's transfer deadline, although for much of January they have demanded that any potential withdrawal be permanent. However, their stance changed on deadline day and they were willing to accept an outright loan if fees were included, with Fulham beating Wolves to sign Raul Jimenez after losing him through injury.
Fulham submitted a trade order to the Premier League just after midnight on Friday, and the news was confirmed. It has been widely reported that Fulham will pay Chelsea a base fee of £750,000, but this could rise to £4 million if certain conditions are met.
Last week, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino compared Broja to Harry Kane, but was clearly left out of the starting line-up in Wednesday's 4-1 defeat to Liverpool.
The Albanian international has scored two goals and provided two assists in 19 appearances for Chelsea this season and has been behind Nicholas Jackson in the rankings for most of the year. Jackson has now ended his AFCON assignment in Senegal and Pochettino has sometimes had Cole Palmer as a striker.
This will be Broja's first loan spell from Chelsea since 2021/22, in which he scored nine goals in 38 appearances for Southampton. Broja is also interested in playing Euro 2024 with Albania, although he was ruled out in the final stages of the qualifying round due to injury.