Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin has revealed that he had a feeling that Tammy Abraham would make it in first-team football.
As a youth product of the Blues development system, Abraham’s dream would have always been to don the first-team jersey of the club which made him into the player that he is today. However, prior to this summer, most people would have though that the club would have opted to move him on just like they did with the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Romelu Lukaku when the trio were younger.
“Tammy Abraham was the one more than any other coming from the Academy who I felt would have the very best chance of really making the grade with the club. From the age of 14 or 15 he has shown the right attitude, the eye for a goal and the willingness to take the knocks and get back up and get on with it” Nevin said as reported by the official Chelsea website.
“He also has that other thing, raw talent which can be worked on and moulded, especially with such an impressive physical structure to work with. He will just keep on getting bigger and stronger over the next few seasons and that is scary!
Abraham’s loan stints with have helped to develop him into a quality striker
The 21-year-old Abraham had a number of loan stints prior to this season which would have allowed him to develop as a player and gain confidence. The first time that his potential was shown was during the 2016/17 season when he spent a season in the Championship with Bristol City. During that campaign, he went on to fire 26 goals in all competitions from 48 games. His heroics that season for the Robins drew the interest of Swansea who were in the Premier League at the time. His season on loan with the Welsh club in the Premier League did not go well as he went on to score just five goals from 31 top-flight games as the Swans were relegated. It was at that point that many people would have thought that Abraham was over-hyped and not Premier League material.
He went on to spend last season on loan with Aston Villa in the Championship. He once again shone in the second-tier as he went on to score 25 goals for Dean Smith’s side to help fire them back into the Premier League. This in addition to the two window transfer ban is what would have prompted Frank Lampard to utilize the youngster in his first-team plans for this season. Abraham has since shown that he is capable of shining in the Premier League by scoring a brace for Lampard’s side during their 3-2 victory against Norwich City two weeks ago.
