Tammy Abraham has been in fantastic form for Jose Mourinho and his Roma side this season, scoring 25 goals in 50 games so far. It's an impressive record which has seen him linked to a move to Arsenal in the Gunners' continued search for a new striker.
Abraham was reportedly picked out specifically by Mourinho to be the figurehead for his Roma side and this has paid dividend with a stellar season from the former Chelsea man. He scored a crucial goal in last Thursday's 1-0 (2-1 aggregate) Europa Conference League semi-final win over Leicester.
Abraham has scored lots of important goals this season, including a brace in March's Rome derby against Lazio and has quickly become a fans' favourite in Serie A. His manager is also clearly a fan, but in classic Mourinho fashion appears to be keeping the 24-year-old on his toes rather than giving him obvious praise.
ALSO READ: Erling Haaland can help Arsenal secure £2.5m windfall before completing Man City summer transfer
After the Leicester win, the former Tottenham and Chelsea manager said: "Tammy knows, I refuse to speak highly of him. Because he can do better and he knows that! He is a great player with potential to be even greater. I refuse to praise him! He needs to work this hard in every game, not just when we are up against Lazio or fighting for a European final!"
Abraham was a youngster at Chelsea when Mourinho was manager, and broke through under Frank Lampard during the 2019/20 campaign. That was a season in which he scored 15 Premier League goals to show that he is capable of producing high levels of performance in England.
This will have been what tempted Roma to make a reported £34 million move to Serie A to join Mourinho, and since the Portuguese boss' words in the wake of the Leicester win his stance has softened. Speaking to Sky Sports over the weekend, he spoke about Abraham and how much he enjoys working with the Londoner.
He said: "Against Leicester, he was absolutely amazing, and at this moment I joke and say 'I refuse to praise him' because he can always do better. He knows how happy I am. He knows how much I love the kid and the player, and I'm proud of what we are doing, and I'm so happy for Tammy. We have got into this situation where I demand a lot from him because I know he can do amazingly well.
"I don't think it's an easy decision for a young player to leave his club, his house, his city, his country and to leave the Premier League, which is, of course, a competition that when a player is in its hard to leave. He took that option, and I think he took it because he trusted me."
Mourinho has already answered arguably the biggest question around Abraham's future - whether the forward actually wants to return to England. He said: "I think in this moment if he wants to go back to England – I don't think he wants to no – but if he wants to go back to England, he just needs to click his fingers, and I'm so happy for him. He's back in the national team and is loved in Rome.
"I don't say proven everybody wrong because I think everyone knows he's a good player, and I also think, with Smalling, Tomori and Tammy, showing the English boys that there is life outside the Premier League and in Italy there's a life that makes them even better players."
The Gunners are in need of at least one top-class striker, given both Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette are into the final two months of their respective contracts with the club. football.london understands that Abraham is one name on the club's shortlisted profiles.
