After all, Thomas Tuchel is right in Chelsea (and there are a lot of them), a critique of his reign so far must be his leadership of Tammy Abraham.
The academy candidate scored 18 club-high goals in 2019/20 and led Chelsea’s leaderboards at the time of Tuchel’s arrival, only to be sufficiently frozen by the German, who preferred an out-of-position Kai Havertz and a foul Timo Werner to a hungry kid with a proven record in Premier League goals.
With two years left on his contract and no hope of minutes after Romelu Lukaku had signed £ 97.5 million, Abraham raised the stick and went to Roma and reunited with Jose Mourinho in a mutual effort to prove English football wrong.
That hug though …? #ASRoma pic.twitter.com/JO2eQXbJtV
– AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 17, 2021
Did we really need to get to this point?
Tuchel’s treatment of Abraham apparently worked on the whole. Havertz scored the winning goal in the Champions League final and the addition of Lukaku has made Chelsea real title candidates again, but all this could have been achieved without giving a boot to the club’s only proven goal scorer in the last two years.
From the minute he pulled Abraham at half-time in his second game against Burnley, it seemed as if Tuchel had decided on the striker. As a manager, he obviously has the right to do so, but what made the situation so confusing is that Tuchel’s alternative to Abraham did not even cut it.
Both Werner and fake-nine Havertz scored in just two Premier League games under Tuchel last year, and it was their battle in front of goal, not Abrahams, that started “Chelsea need a striker to be a true challenger’s story.
Chelsea had that striker, but for whatever reason he barely got the chance to prove himself.
Tuchel had other ideas / Visionhaus / Getty Images
Let’s not get too excited here and claim that Abraham was Ballon d’Or stuff last year. He will admit that he was not the best, but he was still better than the alternatives when it came to putting the ball in the back edge of the net.
His 0.52 goals per 90 minutes was the highest of any Chelsea player last year and significantly higher than Havertz (0.24) and Werner (0.21). There is a reason why he ended up on goal with Werner even though he played well during the half minute that was left to the German.
Abraham should have been more committed last year, and it would have opened the door for him to stay and fill the void in the second fiddle to Lukaku who instead goes to two players who are not really going to play there.
Havertz wants to be a right-handed ten and Werner wants that role on the left, so there is still an Abraham-sized hole in the attacking department, but why would the Englishman want that after the six months he had?
‘You did not ask before! You should have asked! ? #LukWhosBack pic.twitter.com/fqpFyuedem
– Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 17, 2021
Everyone with eyes knows that Abraham is good enough for top football. Tuchel will not be blind to his talent, but as his hunt for Lukaku turned out, the boss was more bothered to find someone with different characteristics for Abraham, and that’s fine.
At the end of the day, it is Tuchel’s job to win trophies. When you interview for the Chelsea job, you learn that it is about immediate global dominance, and the German has done an excellent job of getting Chelsea on the right track for it.
But could he have done all this without leaving Abraham disappointed? If Tuchel could accomplish all he has so far without a real goal scorer, just think of what he may have succeeded with one.
Made in Cobham. ? pic.twitter.com/peDhduiw3Z
– Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 17, 2021
Tuchel has received a bit of faith from the fans, and it is not as if Chelsea’s squad is in a worse condition after swapping Abraham for Lukaku, but there is a feeling that he did not have to close one door to open another.
That frustration becomes Abraham’s fuel in Rome. He always felt he was good enough to play for a top side, and now he finally gets the chance to prove it.
