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Youth in power. For Frank Lampard’s first season on the Chelsea bench in 2019, the instructions were clear. Banned from transfer window, the London club decided to rely on its best hopes, to regenerate its workforce. With in the front line the attacking midfielder Mason Mount and especially the striker Tammy Abraham, whom Chelsea had sent to study in smaller clubs (Bristol then Swansea then Aston Villa).
And it had worked pretty well, Chelsea finishing 4th in the Premier League (thus qualifying for the Champions League), and Abraham scoring 15 league goals. What give him the stature of an essential holder? The summer transfer window has shown that it is not, since Chelsea once again spent lavishly by recruiting Timo Werner. The Germany international started as a central striker, before a long food shortage and the choices of Lampard once again gave Abraham the opportunity to express himself.
If Chelsea don’t want it, the others are there
The arrival of Thomas Tuchel on the sidelines has redistributed the cards, but not yet in favor of the 23-year-old English striker, whose treatment in England questions. “What is Chelsea playing with Tammy Abraham”, wonders the Daily Telegraph. In the 3-4-2-1 pattern set up by Tuchel, Werner’s positioning a notch lower did not however benefit the English international (6 selections).
Replaced twice at half-time by Tuchel, he did not convince. And doubts clearly escort his future with the Blues. Especially since the English clubs are prowling. As recounted in Daily Telegraph, many teams are ready to pounce on the opportunity, especially as Chelsea seem determined to recruit a new striker in the next summer transfer window (with Erling Haaland at the top of the list). West Ham, Aston Villa, Leicester or Brighton are all interested, as could the big guys in the weeks to come. Linked until 2022 with Chelsea, Abraham dreamed of being a flagship player of his training club. This idea is gradually fading.
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