Arsenal and Tottenham were among the clubs to approach Chelsea over a move for Tammy Abraham, but all were snubbed by the player in favour of AS Roma.
According to the reports in 90min, Tammy Abraham turned down several late approaches from various Premier League teams to join Jose Mourinho at AS Roma.
The English forward has officially completed a £34 million transfer to link up with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and to bid farewell to his 17-year stay at Chelsea to start a new chapter of his career at Roma. He signed a five-year contract with the Giallorossi that will expire in June 2026.
The Blues have cleverly installed an €80 million buy-back clause to re-sign the Chelsea Academy product, which is viable from the summer of 2023. Abraham was one of the hottest properties available in the market, and many top clubs were keeping a close eye on the situation developing with the 23-year-old striker.
And, it has now emerged that the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, West Ham United, and Aston Villa all made contacts with Chelsea and the player’s agent over the past weeks, but all efforts went in vain as they could not convince the player.
The Gunners were looking at Abraham as a potential replacement for Alexandre Lacazette whom they are keen to get rid of, while, Tottenham are scouting the market heavily for a recognized target-man as they are preparing for the eventuality of Harry Kane’s departure amid interest from Manchester City.
Even the Giallorossi were unable to persuade Abraham initially as there were reports that Roma’s general manager Tiago Pinto had unsuccessful discussions with player’s representatives, and the move looked dead. However, a crucial intervention from none other than “The Special One” made it possible.
Roma boss Mourinho played a pivotal role in order to sway Abraham to choose a move to Italy instead of remaining in the Premier League with Arsenal or Tottenham or any of the other clubs. It is believed that Mourinho motivated the striker to get out of his comfort zone to achieve greatness and detailed the plan and project in place for him at Roma.
After coming through the ranks at Chelsea, Abraham finally got his chance in the 2019-20 campaign when Frank Lampard put faith in young players to help the club get through the transfer ban imposed. The striker turned out to be one of the shining lights as he netted 18 goals that season to fire Chelsea into 4th position, comfortably qualifying for top-tier European football.
However, things turned dramatically with Thomas Tuchel’s arrival, as he fell down the pecking order behind Timo Werner and Kai Havertz. Despite that, he ended his last campaign as joint top-scorer in all competitions with 12 goals. Abraham is a fine striker and under the guidance of Mourinho – a master of making a ruthless target man – he can very well become one of the top strikers in Serie A.
