Pochettino in dreamland as Aston Villa eye sensational Chelsea swap deal

Tom Weber

• Updated: 29 Jan 2024 17:25 GMT
• 3 min read

Aston Villa are interested in Armando Broja and could offer Chelsea Jhon Duran in a swap deal, according to a report.

The January transfer window has been a pretty low-key affair for Chelsea so far. Though the likes of Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah and Armando Broja have all been transfer-listed, only Ian Maatsen has departed the club, joining Borussia Dortmund on loan with the Black and Yellow having an option of first refusal on the Dutchman in the summer.

No funds have been raised this month, which has hamstrung the Blues on the incoming front, with moves for the likes Ivan Toney and Victor Osimhen simply being unrealistic. However, that doesn't mean that Chelsea haven't been considering adding reinforcements.

As FootballTransfers exclusively revealed, Chelsea approached Brighton over whether they would be open to loaning out Irish wonderkid Evan Ferguson earlier this month. Moreover, Blues recruitment bosses recently began discussing potentially making a move for Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran.

Duran to Chelsea back on?

An untimely injury meant that Chelsea's plans to make a move for the Colombian had to be shelved, but it appears that a deal could be back on. That's at least according to TEAMtalk, which claims that Aston Villa could look to offer the 20-year-old in exchange for Armando Broja.

While Duran could be an ace up Villa's sleeve, they are not the only Premier League side who hold an interest in Broja. The 22-year-old is also said to be courted by Fulham and Wolves and it is claimed that there is no clear favourite for his signature at this point.

Chelsea value the Albanian in the region of €40 million to €50m, which has thus far proved a major stumbling block. Clubs are unwilling to spend that much on a player with an unimpressive scoring record and who is coming off a long-term ACL injury. With the window closing on Thursday, time is running out for Chelsea to cash in on Broja - and to potentially land Duran.