Tuchel reflects on Abraham situation, Chelsea future, decisions to be made

Tammy Abraham’s set for his 83rd career Chelsea appearance tonight, either as a starter or as a substitute, but the way the recent transfer narratives have been going, it’s quite likely to be his final appearance for the club — at least for the foreseeable future barring a Romelu Lukaku-esque comeback half a decade from now.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Thomas Tuchel stopped short of confirming either of these two big moves, acknowledging again that Lukaku is indeed the type of striker that we’re looking for (“a certain profile”) and reflecting again on Abraham’s fall from grace, which began in the latter days of the Lampard administration, but certainly culminated and blossomed into harsh reality during Tuchel’s, when the 23-year-old striker often didn’t even make the matchday squad, let alone make an appearance.

“I will not comment on the actual situation, how far it is, and if it’s true or not true. [Abraham] was clearly not happy with the last half a year and he has maybe reason not to be happy. Maybe it was my fault not to push him and trust him at the same level as other players.

“I can understand he wants more minutes, so the decision will be how do we plan? What are Tammy’s plans? Does he fight his way back into the team from the position he ended last season? Or does he want to change to the club to one where he has a better chance of being a starter? I can understand and this is the situation. It’s quite a normal situation until the transfer window is closed.”

Those are certainly good words and reasonable words, as usual from Tuchel, though from the outside looking in, it’s still hard to understand why Abraham got so ostracized in the last few months of the season (much the same way as it was hard to understand why the same thing started happening with Fikayo Tomori a year earlier.)

Regardless, the situation now seems quite clear to not involve Tammy staying at his boyhood club after two solid seasons (well, one and a half). Whether it’s Roma or Arsenal (or someone else yet unknown), the damage here is done, and we move on.

But first, perhaps a farewell goal tonight?

“Tammy is in the squad and did good preparation matches. [He] is one of the players where we constantly evaluate the situation and adapt to the needs. There is no news now, he is available for the starting XI tomorrow or to come off the bench.”

-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London

Let’s hope this works our for the best for all involved.