Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Arsenal pushed really hard to sign Tammy Abraham from Chelsea before the Englishman completed his switch to Italy to join AS Roma.
The 23-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal. The Sun even revealed that we were leading Tottenham in the race to sign him in the summer window, but no move materialised and he joined Roma instead.
Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol claimed that Mikel Arteta was ‘upset’ that Edu couldn’t get this deal over the line. Romano has now shared some more details as to why the Gunners couldn’t get their man.
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Fabrizio Romano: Arsenal were really pushing to sign Abraham
He said on the Here We Go podcast: “They (Arsenal) were trying to convince the player (Abraham) and to take his time before joining Roma because they were looking to sell maybe Lacazette or maybe Eddie Nketiah to have a free slot for a new striker with Tammy Abraham.
“They were really interested, in talks with the agent, but they were prepared to make a proposal. But they were needing to sell a striker before signing Tammy Abraham.
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“They were really, really pushing and pushing, they were trying in every possible way. So, Arsenal were really convinced that they had a chance to sign Tammy Abraham. But, in football, it is not easy to change the mind of the players.”
The Insider’s View:
Abraham would’ve been a brilliant signing for Arsenal. He would’ve offered something completely different to what we currently have with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli and Folarin Balogun.
The former Chelsea man, like Lacazette, is excellent at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. He can run in behind like Aubameyang and Martinelli, while the biggest trait he would’ve brought to the Emirates had he joined us would’ve been his tremendous aerial prowess.
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Sadly, a deal was not possible. Arsenal just couldn’t move the likes of Lacazette and Nketiah on and it looks like we’ll lose both of them for absolutely nothing at the end of this season.
