Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, journalist Duncan Castles has shared how Roma beat Arsenal to Tammy Abraham’s signature.
It’s no secret that Arsenal wanted Abraham, but he’s been snapped up by the Serie A giants who offered him a hefty financial package to head to Italy.
Indeed, in order to beat Arsenal to Abraham, Jose Mourinho spoke directly to the striker, while Roma offered him a salary of around €5m (£4.3m) net.
What’s been said?
Castles was discussing Arsenal and the topic of Abraham inevitably came up.
“They tried for Tammy Abraham and have lost him to Roma. Jose Mourinho’s intervention to talk directly to the striker had an effect, I think there was also an effect in that Roma increased their salary offer to Abraham, Guidance I have is that it went to around €5m net per season to get him to come and they did the deal with Chelsea for a guaranteed €40m with some performance-related variables, a sell-on clause and perhaps most importantly Chelsea holding a buy-back,” Castles said.
Not worth it
While Arsenal could probably do with a new centre-forward, paying Abraham that sum of money would have represented bad business.
This is a striker who has only had one good season at Premier League level, and as soon as Chelsea’s transfer embargo was lifted, they made sure he was replaced.
He’s not a bad player by any means, but if the Gunners want a striker who can be Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s long-term replacement, they need to aim higher.
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