Tammy Abraham is a 24-year-old English striker for AS Roma. He has gone from Championship phenomenon, to club Golden Boy, to outcast, to resurgent goal-scorer in just a few years.
The Cobham Academy product made a $44 million move from Chelsea to his new Italian club over the summer after being frozen out of a Champions League-winning side and losing his spot in the international lineup.
Whatever questions were raised over Abraham as to why one of the best managers in the world could not fit him into the best team in Europe have quickly been dispelled, as the young Englishman is scoring goals for fun once again in one of the most competitive leagues in the world.
Tammy Abraham’s rise
The 6-foot-5 center-forward made his name in the championship, where he scored 25 goals in 37 appearances for Aston Villa in the 2018-19 season. His brilliant performances combined with a transfer ban for his parent club saw him integrated into Chelsea’s first team in the following season, once which ended with him notching 15 goals and four assists in 34 league games.
Abraham was joined by fellow academy products Mason Mount, Reece James, and Fikayo Tomori in Chelsea’s starting XI and would ultimately help them to finish in fourth place and secure Champions League qualification, against all odds.
Everything was on the up-and-up for the young goal-getter until the manager and club legend Frank Lampard was sacked for poor performances, and current manager Thomas Tuchel was brought in. The cutthroat German tactician gave Abraham chances but could not find a place for him in his system of play and eventually omitted the striker from all important matches at the end of the campaign.
Abraham was soon faced with the unavoidable reality that he needed a move away from the only club that he had known for nearly two decades; he was sold to Roma on August 17, 2021, where he would go to study under legendary coach Jose Mourinho.
Lighting up the Serie A
Roma’s new number-nine faced a difficult path in Roma, working for a notoriously curt and ruthless manager in Mourinho— but rather than backing down, he embraced the challenge.
In his first year in Italy, Abraham has bagged 15 goals in 29 games, all starts. Roma is tied for fifth place in the league with Atalanta, two places above its seventh-place finish in the last campaign.
He also has 23 goals in 35 appearances across all competitions, which is an elite return for any forward—most top strikers are expected to score once every two matches.
Abraham also has a realistic path back to the England squad, where he would likely back-up captain Harry Kane. Kane is England’s true Golden Boy and seems to dominate the action whenever he puts on the armband, but the options behind him are not the best.
The Tottenham man has also not been in the best form over the past few months, although he seems to be turning the corner under the leadership of manager Antonio Conte; still, it will show England manager Gareth Southgate that he needs to prepare options for times when Kane is not available or is out of form.
Jamie Vardy, Ivan Toney, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin headline the challengers for Abraham’s potential spot in the squad, and all have been given international caps; but none of these players are in the same form as Abraham, nor do they have the potential that he does.
Before any of that can be decided, however, Abraham needs to help Roma finish strong domestically.
After scoring a brace in a derby against Lazio last weekend, Roma’s next match will be against 15th-place Sampdoria on April 3.
