Tammy Abraham has completed his £34m move to Roma after finding himself surplus to requirements at Chelsea.
Roma were in the market for a new striker after selling Edin Dzeko to Internazionale, who signed the Bosnian after allowing Romelu Lukaku to join Chelsea for £97.5m, and have won the race for Abraham after fending off competition from Arsenal.
The 23-year-old has been allowed to leave his boyhood club after playing only 17 minutes in the final three months of last season under Thomas Tuchel. Abraham found himself on the sidelines after Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as Chelsea’s manager, although the forward still finished as the club’s top scorer with 12 goals.
Abraham had two years left on his deal and his departure was inevitable following Lukaku’s return to Stamford Bridge. Several clubs were monitoring Abraham and Arsenal wanted to sign him on loan with an obligation to make the deal permanent next summer, but the north London club found Chelsea difficult to crack during negotiations.
Abraham, who was also targeted by West Ham, was interested in joining Arsenal. Yet Chelsea were not prepared to make it easy for them to sign one of their academy graduates, leaving the path clear for José Mourinho’s Roma. The Serie A club are rebuilding after hiring Mourinho this summer and have agreed to give Abraham a five-year deal worth £80,000 a week.
Abraham leaves Chelsea with a strong reputation. He was popular with supporters after playing a key role in the team finishing fourth two seasons ago, hitting 18 goals, and the deal with Roma includes a £68m buy-back clause that Chelsea can activate from June 2023.
Chelsea are also in talks with Lyon over the sale of the Italy left-back Emerson Palmieri and are close to sending Michy Batshuayi to Besiktas on loan. Tuchel wants to trim his squad and wants Tiémoué Bakayoko, Ross Barkley, Davide Zappacosta and Danny Drinkwater to leave before the transfer window shuts.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/aug/17/tammy-abraham-completes-34m-move-from-chelsea-to-roma
