Last summer, Arsenal needed a new young striker just as much as we do this year, and when Thomas Tuchel surprisingly put the prolific young striker Tammy Abraham on the market it was no surprise that the Gunners were linked with him.
The tall then 23-year-old England international had notched up 30 goals in 79 appearances over two years for the Blues, but was never accepted as a regular starter in a squad full of superstars, so it was inevitable that he would be the subject of attention from lots of big clubs, especially at a transfer fee reported to be only £34 million.
Now, Abraham has been talking to the Athletic about his year in Italy, and he admits that he had an offer from Arsenal, but it seems that he was more attracted to Jose Mourinho’s project at Roma rather than Mikel Arteta’s. Abraham said: “Yeah, I had a few (offers). The Arsenal one got out and there were other clubs as well, but it’s never black and white, and just speaking to Mourinho and Roma and the sporting director, they had an ambition and an aim. They wanted the club to reach certain targets, they hadn’t won a trophy for a while and they hadn’t done as well in the league as they would have wanted.
“It was about seeing a vision and… how can I put it? It’s just like what Newcastle (United) are doing: building again. I could see where Mourinho wanted me to be and he believed in me. This was the best place for me. Thank god I’ve done it.”
There have been reports that Abraham is keen on a move back to London one day, but it is unlikely to be this summer as Chelsea’s buy back clause doesn’t come into effect until he has been in Rome for two years, but it looks like Arsenal missed the boat in last summers window anyway…
Well that says it. He rejected our “process”.
My suggestion would be:
1. Sign a first choice striker (Osimhen/Nunez)
2. Sign a second choice striker (Jovic on loan with an option to buy)
72m Pepe 1 PL goal
60m Auba 4 PL Goals
50m Laca 4 PL Goals.
ESR 10 PL Goals. Free
Saka 11 PL Goals. Free
Martinelli 5 goals 7mill
26 PL Goals. 7mill v 9 PL Goals 182 mill.
So logically we will promote our own free strikers? Right? Probably not.
More likely the club will bow down to the fans crying blue murder and go spend 50/60/70mill on strikers from some other club, players who only come for the money and if truth be told couldn’t care less about the club let alone the fans.
Pepe, Auba, Laca all not bought under Arteta. And where is the indication that Pepe/Auba/Laca doesnt care about Arsenal? Laca works his socks off every game, hes simply not a good goal scorer or at our level anymore. And pepe didnt work out for anyone. Saying he doesnt care is again inaccurate. Just because every purchase doesnt work out, doesnt boil down to the player not caring about the club or trying their best.
I’m thrilled most times when fans calculate club’s money as if it’s theirs…. if i may ask, who is the striker you would promote for free from Arsenal young stars? I agree price tag doesn’t guarantee quality but yet, quality doesn’t come cheap.
Arsenal needs a quality striker in the summer, a proven one at that. you have seen what happens when our wingers and midfielders fails to score.
He is having a great year in Italy, but would that translate back to EPL? He wasn’t a world-beater before. Maybe he has developed more or maybe he is just better suited to Italy – different leagues and different styles.
We really need to be careful buying a good striker – they have to be able to play in England.
To me Abraham does not meet the requirement of the caliber of striker Arsenal needs for this project