Armando Broja is targeting pre-season to return from the serious knee injury he suffered back in December, football.london understands. The 21-year-old picked up the injury in Chelsea’s mid-season friendly against Aston Villa in Abu Dhabi back in December. Broja required surgery after scans confirmed an anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Speaking about the difficulties of the seven-month period he has been sidelined to Chelsea’s website back in April, Broja admitted the psychological struggles such an injury brings.
Armando Broja said: “I still haven’t got my head fully around it. It does play on your mind. It was a big shock because I have always been quite a healthy lad, and have had just had a few minor injuries here and there. It was an even bigger shock to my mum and dad, because they have so rarely seen me injured. After surgery, I was bedridden for about two weeks. It was one of the worst times of my life. It was horrible. I couldn’t get out of bed. My mum was running round the house to get me tablets and give me my food. It was a struggle. You almost feel useless. You want to be able to do stuff, but you just can’t. I couldn’t sleep. I was in pain. The day and what happened played on my mind constantly. I was thinking about ways I could have avoided it, even though that wasn’t a good thing to do. I had to take a step back from that. It was something I had to move past, start just focusing on getting back fit. As they say, the comeback is going to be better than the setback.”