Tammy Abraham admits he was reluctant to leave the Permier League but says Jose Mourinho convinced him that joining Roma was the right decision.
The England international has scored four goals in ten appearances for Roma – while hitting the crossbar six times – since his £34m move from the Blues over the summer.
Abraham spent over a decade at Chelsea’s academy and then plaued 82 matches – scoring 30 goals – for the first team after his debut in 2016.
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But, the 24-year-old fell down the pecking order after Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard midway through the 2020-21 campaign and barely featured as Chelsea won the Champions League and reached the FA Cup final.
‘I feel like it was home, being around London, being around England. It was home,’ said Abraham.
‘I think I had to open my wings a bit and make a choice and I chose Italy and would not change it.’
Abraham says he had other options when he decided to leave Chelsea, but a phone call with Mourinho helped convince him to choose Roma over Arsenal.
‘I had different options,’ Abraham said. ‘There were so many clubs I was speaking to at the time. Italy came and I spoke to Jose. He had a goal.
‘I could see where he wanted Roma to go and see where he wants to take them and I wanted to be part of the process. He really put his trust in me so he was a big impact on the reason why I chose Roma.
‘The first thing he said to me was when I picked up the phone he was like “do you want to enjoy some sun or stay in the rain?” I laughed.’
‘I think the easy option would’ve been to stick around and sit down,’ the striker added. ‘Chelsea’s a massive club, they will compete and try to win trophies so the easy option would’ve been to do that.
‘I realised that I needed to go out and prove myself, I needed to play some games. I took a decision and it was the right one.’
