Chelsea will demand more than World Cup success from Tammy Abraham

Normally players hope to do well with their club to earn a call-up to their national team. Tammy Abraham is aiming to do the opposite, and use the World Cup to force his way into Chelsea’s first team.

Chelsea should start billing their first team as the world’s hardest team to make. When a young player who has been at the club since he was six years old thinks he needs a strong showing at the World Cup to earn his place at the club’s senior level – rather than parlaying his club showings into a national team call-up – things are either brilliantly competitive or starkly mismanaged.

Tammy Abraham has had a difficult first season in the Premier League. He has four league goals, all of which came in the first eight games of the season. However, those four goals are still enough for him to be Swansea City’s second-highest scorer, behind Jordan Ayew and his six goals. Of the 22 matchweeks since Abraham’s last goal in mid-October, Swansea have spent only six out of the relegation spaces.

Despite his struggles – few of which can be laid on him – Abraham is still optimistic that his first competitive appearance for England’s senior team will be at the World Cup. And once he has that chance to prove his abilities on that stage, he will be able to kick in the door to the first team at his childhood club.

"I have to finish (the season) strong, look to the World Cup squad this summer and then focus on Chelsea. My aim is to go back and do well with Chelsea. I like to believe Chelsea is where I will go through and do well. I have been there since I was six years old. My dream is to break into the first team. – Evening Standard"

Abraham’s ambitions for the World Cup are exactly what a young player like him should have. But for a man who has been a part of Chelsea FC for 14 years, he overestimates either his prospects or Chelsea’s growing willingness to integrate the youth into the first team.

No matter how well Abraham plays in Russia – assuming he does at all – he will report to Chelsea’s pre-season no higher than third in the depth chart. Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud will remain Antonio Conte’s top two strikers. If Chelsea buy a third striker to complement this pair or – unlikely but still possible – to replace Morata, that player will also be above Abraham. So will Michy Batshuayi, who has significantly more first-team football than Abraham and is proving himself capable of doing everything at Borussia Dortmund that Conte apparently thought he could not do at Chelsea.

Realistically, then, Abraham will be fourth on the depth chart, at 20 years old and under 100 first team appearances. Which means he will get one of the best loans Chelsea can come up with (a beautiful loan! absolutely tremendous, people will love this loan it’ll be so tremendous), but a loan just the same.

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Abraham will need and deserve a loan to either another Premier League team or a top Bundesliga team. Chelsea’s headless technical staff will need to place him with an offensively-oriented team. They cannot afford to send him someplace else like Swansea, who are stunted going forward and spent the season in a relegation battle amid constant managerial turmoil. Abraham needs a place where he can score at the top level, not fight for survival.

Bristol City are one point out of the Championship promotion playoffs. If they manage to ascend to the Premier League, they could be a reasonable loan destination despite their likely struggle to stay up.

Lee Johnson showed during the Robins’ EFL Cup run he is ready and willing to take the game to Premier League opponents. They defeated four Premier League clubs, including Manchester United, and battled Manchester City over two semi-final legs, losing by one goal apiece. Johnson and the entire Bristol City community would be thrilled to have Abraham back. Abraham is familiar with his tactics, which brought out his best in 2016/17.

Next: Michy Batshuayi is the only loser if Chelsea purchase a new striker

Tammy Abraham has all the right ideas and right ambitions. For better or worse, though, what he is hoping for is not the Chelsea way. We’ll pencil him in as the club’s third chance to prove the value of the loan army, after they bring Lucas Piazon in from the cold next season.