Tammy Abraham is set to join Swansea City on a season-long loan from Chelsea, and Celtic may well be disappointed to miss out on the talented striker.
Tammy Abraham
After weeks of speculation, it appears that we now know where Tammy Abraham will be aiming to maintain his rapid rate of progress next season.
And it’s not Everton, Newcastle United, Leicester City or indeed Celtic. According to the BBC, Swansea have fought off competition to sign one of the most in-demand young players in English football on a season-long loan from Chelsea.
Swans manager Paul Clement knows the 19-year-old well from his time as assistant coach at Chelsea and if Abraham can score a fraction of the 23 he plundered at Bristol City last season he will surely be one of the signings of the season.
However, you wonder whether Abraham has missed a trick not pushing for a move to Celtic this month. The Scottish Sun claimed that manager Brendan Rodgers, who spent four years watching over Abraham as coach of Chelsea’s academy, was hoping for a reunion at Parkhead.
Long-term benefits
The development of Patrick Roberts, who spent 18 trophy laden months at Celtic on loan from Manchester City, certainly suggests that Parkhead might have been the perfect environment for another Premier League starlet desperate to prove his worth.
And Abraham would learn to develop a winning mentality in Glasgow that could come in handy for his long-term Chelsea prospects, as well as exposure to European football.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is renowned for improving young players
Roberts returns to The Etihad on the back of a domestic treble. Before he moved to the club in January last year, he had not lifted a single piece of silverware in his senior career. Winning relentlessly is not a bad habit to fall into when you want to make your mark at a club with such loft ambitions.
On the other hand, the level of the Scottish top flight is far below the Premier League. And, if Abraham is to prove that he is to make the grade at Stamford Bridge, he must earn his stripes at the top level of English football.
Despite Roberts starring north of the border, he remains something of an unknown prospect in the English top flight. It is still uncertain whether he will make the grade.
12 months at the Liberty Stadium, meanwhile, should give a clearer indication of whether Abraham will indeed be the first homegrown player since John Terry to break into Chelsea’s first-team.
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