Scouting Notebook: Chelsea's Tammy Abraham Is an All-Round Striking Prospect

Chelsea's loan-heavy, unique approach to the transfer window needs no introduction.

The amount of young players they spray across the continent each summer on a temporary basis can boggle the mind—so much so they employ someone full time to look after them all, and they're all collated into a WhatsApp group to ease the strain.

But while sifting through the mountain of deals can be tiresome, it can also reveal plenty; where a player is sent is indicative of the level of the club's faith in him. If you are off to Groningen or Rostov, things aren't looking good. Vitesse Arnhem is a halfway house from which players could go either way. But a Premier League loan—the crown jewel in this instance—indicates serious belief.

Tammy Abraham's securing of the latter is an important milestone in his career. Not many of the loan army have managed that, and in truth, few others have even managed notable top-tier moves. Landing at Swansea City for the season, having impressed as England's starting striker at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship has only cemented belief that Abraham will soon be more than just cutting it at Stamford Bridge.

There is still work to do. Abraham's season at Swansea has to be a success, and he's not walking into a club devoid of strikers. Fernando Llorente's future is up in the air—B/R's Dean Jones reported in June that Chelsea want him—but for now, he's the leading man in south Wales, with Jordan Ayew blossoming late last season and becoming the ideal support striker for the Spaniard.

Abraham has to work his way into that team and play immediately. Chelsea's head of youth recruitment, Neil Bath, recently revealed to the club's official website that they feel youth products must play between 150 and 200 first-team games to be ready to play for the club's senior side. That's at least three full seasons out on loan with regular games (with youth internationals counting, too) and an unlikely route into the setup before the age of 22.

Credit: EFL

Abraham will turn 20 in October and has one full campaign at Bristol City in the bank. Given he was handed a new five-year contract before heading over to join Paul Clement and Co., it's fair to say Chelsea are in his corner and believe he can ace Years 2 and 3 in the same way he did the first.

What will work in Abraham's favour when attempting to break into this Swans first XI is he's such a multifaceted striker. He is not just a runner like, say, the much-coveted Andre Gray, or just a target man like new Huddersfield Town acquisition Laurent Depoitre. He’s an intriguing blend of both styles, making him difficult to deal with.

At 6'3", you wouldn't expect him to move through the gears as quickly as he does or threaten off the shoulder as he does, but he netted a number of goals last season utilising this simple method—one of which, against Blackburn Rovers, defied belief:

Credit: EFL

"It was just an instinctive thing to do," Bristol City assistant coach Dean Holden told ESPN FC's Nick Miller recently. "That was an unorthodox type of finish, and that's what gives him a chance, because he can do lots of different things."

His body of work in 2016-17 supports that claim. He hoovered up scraps in the penalty box and finished half-chances with deadly ingenuity while utilising great movement to flummox centre-backs and create space. He showcased the latter at the European Under-21 Championship against better opposition, drawing Jeremy Toljan out of position before prodding a low Will Hughes cross home.

His wiry frame means he can wall off defenders and protect the ball, making him a pivot from whom you can play off when building attacks. England utilised him heavily in that regard over the summer; Jordan Pickford would send his goal-kicks to the flanks, where Abraham had drifted, and he would take them down, hold things up and then either take on his man or feed it back inside.

Credit: Sky Sports

Abraham's willingness to filter wide and use the space on the flanks is a big positive. He is happy to move around and hunt areas to drop into, testing his strength against different opposing players across the pitch. That, in particular, will interest Swansea manager Clement, as his late-season diamond shape asked exactly that of Ayew in an attempt to find ways to feed Llorente.

An incredibly well-rounded striking prospect, there is no doubt that Abraham is ready for this Premier League step. Based on what Holden revealed in the aforementioned ESPN FC interview, the forward is willing to put the work in on the training ground to improve and think about ways to get the better of top-tier players, too.

Abraham has scored a bucket-load of goals at every level he has played at so far, with his astonishing tally of 23 Championship goals for a poor Bristol City side last season even more impressive considering he averaged just 2.7 shots per game. He's economical in front of goal and has the ability to affect all three thirds of the pitch. Now we just need to see it happen against the best.

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