Chelsea agree £34m deal to sell Tammy Abraham ahead of Romelu Lukaku arrival

Chelsea have agreed a £34m deal to sell Tammy Abraham to Roma ahead of Romelu Lukaku’s arrival at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal, West Ham and Atalanta have all been linked with moves for Abraham but Jose Mourinho’s Roma are now on the verge of securing his signature, according to Sky Italia.

The England international has been at Chelsea since the age of seven and made 82 appearances for the club since breaking into the first-team six years ago.

Abraham scored 15 Premier League goals during the 2019-20 season but he fell down the pecking order after Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as manager in January, failing to make the matchday squads for the Champions League and FA Cup final.

With Roma agreeing a £34m deal to sign Abraham from Chelsea, the 23-year-old must not decide if he wants to join the Italian club, who are managed by former Blues boss Mourinho.

Roma emerged as the frontunners to sign Abraham as Chelsea were reluctant to offload their academy graduate to a Premier League rival, despite Arsenal and West Ham plotting moves.

Abraham looks set to leave west London just as Romelu Lukaku completes a club-record £97.5m move to Chelsea, the club who sold him just seven years ago.

Lukaku has already completed the first part of his Chelsea medical and is expected to arrive in London on Tuesday to be unveiled as the Blues’ big-money signing.

Chelsea boss Tuchel has been reluctant to discuss Lukaku’s move but did admit that the number nine role is an area he wants to strengthen following Olivier Giroud’s move to AC Milan.

‘We lost Olivier Giroud who played a crucial role in the club,’ Tuchel told Sky Sports last week.

‘He was the kind of profile who likes to play with his back to goal, who likes to hold up balls, who creates space for Werner, Havertz, Pulisic; who is ready to fight physically with defenders.

‘This is the kind of profile that we don’t have in our squad right now and that we are looking for. It’s still not the moment to talk about names because we have nobody signed yet and we will show all the respect to other clubs.

‘Romelu is one of the guys like Haaland at Dortmund, Lewandowski at Bayern, Harry Kane at Tottenham, who is a real No 9 who loves to score and who has a presence in the box.

‘That is not a secret. The sentence [Tuchel describing Lukaku as a “fantastic player”] is easy to repeat for any coach in the world.

‘But [his] is the kind of profile we’re looking for and if it is possible to convince agents and clubs we will do our best.’

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