Pat Nevin believes it would be a mistake for Chelsea to let go of Tammy Abraham this summer as he compared the striker’s situation to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s at Everton.
The 23-year-old last featured for Chelsea in the 1-1 draw with Southampton in February, a 45-minute appearance before he was taken off at half-time.
It has been over three weeks and five matches since.
Thomas Tuchel recently confirmed that Abraham was still struggling with an ankle injury, but there have still been questions over the striker’s future at Chelsea.
Tuchel has found a new centre-forward option in Kai Havertz, and Abraham might even be third or fourth in the pecking order currently.
This is very interesting because the England international is Chelsea’s joint-leading goalscorer in the league this season (six goals) alongside Jorginho.
Speaking to Football London, Nevin highlighted that Abraham is still a young player — and not every 23-year-old is an “absolutely finished product”.
“From what I saw from him at 16 years old, Tammy was always the one from the academy that I thought would make it [at Chelsea],” the former Chelsea winger added.
“And that is because he had the technical quality to his game.
“I think a good example for what can happen with Tammy is (Everton striker) Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
“Things have finally fallen into place for him over the past year. But before then, he was getting roughed up all over the place.
“But then it was like a switch was flicked.
“For the role he plays, and that Tammy plays, you need that all in place.
“I genuinely feel that if Tammy left this summer, in five years’ time Chelsea fans will be asking why on earth the club let him go. I believe that strongly.”
Chronicle view
It is almost unheard-of for a club top scorer not to be a guaranteed starter anywhere else.
Tuchel is simply spoilt for choice for the central forward role, with Abraham, Havertz, Olivier Giroud, and Timo Werner offering different types of No.9s.
Not to mention that while Abraham leads Chelsea’s goalscoring charts with 12 goals in all competitions, Giroud and Werner are not far behind with 11 and 10 goals, respectively.
But still, Abraham is a proven goalscorer and as Nevin argued, letting him go this summer could prove to be a regrettable decision in the future.
The Blues have been in that situation before, when they decided to sell Romelu Lukaku only to make an unsuccessful attempt to resign him.
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