Delighted Jose Mourinho says bringing Tammy Abraham to Roma is a ‘real coup’ after sealing £34m deal with Chelsea… and praises him for being ‘ambitious’ and making move to Italy
- Tammy Abraham has officially completed his £34m move to Roma from Chelsea
- Striker Abraham will link up with Jose Mourinho, who has heaped praise on him
- Mourinho hailed the arrival as a ‘real coup’ and also saluted Abraham’s ambition
- Abraham admitted helping his new club to win trophies was why he joined them
Jose Mourinho has saluted Tammy Abraham’s ‘ambition’ and described his £34m move to Roma from Chelsea as a ‘real coup’.
Abraham touched down in Italy at the weekend to undergo his medical, and soon put pen to paper on a five-year deal at his new club.
His arrival saw Mourinho swoop for one of his former club’s players, and the boss admitted Abraham’s choice to leave the Premier League shows his character.
Jose Mourinho has heaped praise on Tammy Abraham and says his Roma move is a ‘real coup’
In an in-depth chat with Roma’s official website off the back of their pre-season campaign, Mourinho opened up on his new star striker.
‘Even if he (Abraham) hadn’t joined, I still would’ve had a positive view of the owners and the general manager, given that they did everything possible to react to the departure of a top player like [Edin] Dzeko,’ he said. ‘They’ve been fantastic.
‘As for Tammy, I prefer to say wait and see. I say that with total confidence. I’ve known him since he was a boy. He’s never played for me because he was a 14, 15 and 16-year-old boy when I was at Chelsea, but I know him very well.
Abraham has put pen to paper on a five-year deal and will lead the line for Mourinho’s team
Mourinho believes Abraham’s choice to leave Chelsea and head to Italy shows his ambition
‘I know him as a player, a person and in terms of his mentality. I know how he made the decision to leave the Premier League, which is always tough for an English player.
‘That tells me so much about him because when you leave the Premier League, you do so because you’re ambitious.
‘You leave because you want to get back into your national team, because you want to play at the World Cup, because you want success outside of England, where not that many English players have had brilliant careers.
‘He comes here with that ambition and we hope to see his best qualities as a player. With Tammy, Eldor [Shomurodov] and Borja [Mayoral], we have attacking options that I’m very pleased about.
Abraham has enjoyed his first training session with Roma as he bids to hit the ground running
‘We don’t have the experience of players who are 30, 33 or 35.
‘We don’t have the experience that you might see at Juve with Cristiano, at Milan with [Olivier] Giroud and Zlatan, [at Atalanta] with [Luis] Muriel and [Duvan] Zapata, given they are all established and have a wealth of experience.
‘We don’t have that, but in terms of potential, I couldn’t be happier with the players that we have.’
Abraham’s departure has come just days after Romelu Lukaku made his return to Chelsea in a club record £98m switch, which pushed him down the pecking order.
Abraham touched down in Rome on Sunday to complete his medical ahead of signing the deal
Mourinho and Abraham shared a hug after the Roma boss greeted his new signing on Sunday
Opening up on his reasons for heading to Italy, Abraham admitted that helping Roma push for silverware was a major factor.
‘You can sense when a club really wants you – and Roma made their interest clear immediately,’ he said.
‘Roma is a club that deserves to be fighting for titles and trophies. I’ve had the experience of winning major trophies and I want to be in those competitions again.
‘I want to help this team to achieve that and get to the level where Roma should be.
Abraham was pushed down the pecking order at Chelsea after Romelu Lukaku joined for £98m
‘It’s a massive honour to be the No 9 at this club and I just can’t wait to get started and to help the team.’
Abraham was on the bench for Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend and bid a fond farewell, with suitcase in tow, before leaving the ground.
The deal with Roma is understood to include a buy-back clause of around £68m, and Marina Granovskaia, the Chelsea director, said Abraham will be welcome back.