In Focus: How Abraham's Italian job has made him England's top marksman

Tammy Abraham is a man on a mission since switching Chelsea for Roma in the summer.

The 24-year-old has hit 17 goals in all competitions for the Serie A side after leaving the Blues in search of first-team football.

It has left many wondering whether Chelsea were wrong to let him go, with £97.5million signing Romelu Lukaku struggling to set the world alight in West London.

And with a World Cup around the corner, could the striker become a key man for England?

Feeling the love

After being effectively frozen out by Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea last term — making just six substitute appearances since the German replaced Frank Lampard — Abraham was desperate to go somewhere he felt wanted again.

A host of Premier League clubs were linked but he opted to move overseas to link up with Jose Mourinho at Roma in a £36m deal.

He has not looked back since, with a two-goal display against Empoli at the weekend making it 17 for the season — already more than he managed during the whole of the previous campaign.

And Abraham has revealed that Mourinho, who managed Chelsea over two spells while he was in the club’s academy, played a key role in convincing him to head to the Stadio Olimpico.

After Saturday's 4-2 victory, Abraham said: "The coach was decisive for my transfer to Italy. 

"The first thing he said to me was, ‘Do you want to stay in England in the rain or come for the sun in Rome?’

"[It is] an honour to work with him, he has won everything and I want to win too."

Proven pedigree

Abraham’s goalscoring exploits should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed his career.

The Giallorossi No9 has been a regular at finding the net wherever he has been, whether that be at Chelsea or during loan spells at Bristol City, Swansea or Aston Villa.

Over three seasons at those loan clubs — his first at professional level — he managed an impressive 60-goal haul.

Even when he was out of the first-team picture last term, Abraham finished as Chelsea’s joint-top scorer with 12 strikes in all competitions.

That all 10 of his goals in Serie A this campaign have come from inside the box shows he has the striker’s instinct that managers all across Europe crave.

Chelsea dagger

It is exactly what Chelsea are missing right now, with the Blues' title charge dwindling in recent months and their forwards struggling to find the net.

Much was expected of record-signing Lukaku after the Belgian returned to the club on the back of two impressive years at Inter Milan.

But his tally of eight goals — with just five in the Premier League — is somewhat underwhelming.

He also angered Chelsea fans in an unauthorised interview which suggested he was unhappy and would have preferred to stay with the Nerazzurri in the summer.

And as the arrival who effectively forced Abraham out of the door, it has left fans wondering whether the club made the right choice in moving the academy graduate on.

That seems to be the opinion of Jody Morris, who oversaw Abraham’s development as a youngster at Cobham as well as his breakthrough into the first team as Lampard’s assistant.

Following another goalless display from Lukaku in Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham, Morris tweeted: "While I’m talking about top players, how’s Tammy Abraham doing? That kid will score goals for whoever he plays for!"

Reports claim Chelsea inserted a £64m buy-back clause in the deal to sell Abraham to Roma but there is no indication that it will be exercised at this stage.

On the plane

With a goalscoring record bettered by no other English player in Europe’s top five leagues this term, Abraham now looks set to be a key man for Gareth Southgate ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

Absent from England's Euro 2020 squad, the hitman's form saw him back in the Three Lions fold for the last two international breaks — scoring in wins over Andorra and San Marino. 

While displacing captain Harry Kane for the winter is still a tall order, Abraham now appears streets ahead of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Marcus Rashford, who were both ahead of him at the time of last year's European Championship.

And the South London marksman has made no secret of his burning desire to keep hold of the England jersey after opening up on the disappointment of last summer.

He said: "For me, of course I was disappointed to miss out, but I’m playing every week now and hopefully I can keep performing.  

"It’s a tough squad to get into and hopefully I can remain here."

With fierce competition for a place up front, Abraham will know he must continue his rich vein of goalscoring between now and the end of the season — starting with a home clash against Genoa on February 5.

If he does that, he will be hard for Southgate to ignore.