Tammy Abraham is ready to do for England what he has been doing for Chelsea: score plenty of goals. Harry Kane’s injury means Gareth Southgate may need Abraham to fill the job.
A major international tournament is coming up in the summer, so naturally England lose one of their best players to injury. Harry Kane has been ruled out for the foreseeable future, almost certainly missing the Euros. It’s time for a younger player to stand up and be counted. And it’s not Marcus Rashford.
Step forward, Kevin Oghenetega Tamaraebi Bakumo-Abraham, the love of Bristol City, the hero of Aston Villa, and the scourge of Premier League teams everywhere. We’ll just call him Tammy, though. The 22 year old striker has silenced cynics and critics by simply being terrific. A mid-season haul of 15 goals and five assists is about 10 goals and four assists more than anyone expected from him for his entire breakthrough season at Chelsea.
Having already earned an England cap and opened his account for the Three Lions, the time is ripe for Abraham to lead his country to glory, or a quarter-final exit. There are inevitable comparisons to Marcus Rashford, but the Manchester United striker has been shunted wide for most of his career and plays sporadically through the middle for United out of necessity more than anything else.
But the way Gareth Southgate sets up his England side, there is no better replacement for Harry Kane than Tammy Abraham.
Much like Kane, Abraham likes to get involved in the build-up and not just lurk in the box looking for a tap-in. His hold-up play has improved by leaps and bounds as the season has progressed.
Abraham’s awareness of his teammates’ positions allows him to cushion the ball to them as he makes his way into the opponent’s box, ready to finish the move. The movement, the first touch and, most importantly, the knack of being at the right place at the right time, all combine to make him a complete forward in the mould of his senior England colleague.
And it’s not just words. Abraham has the full force of cutting-edge statistics behind him.
Compared to Harry Kane’s xG per 90 minutes of 0.56 in 20 appearances, Abraham scores a significantly more impactful 0.70 in 21 games despite playing 87 minutes fewer than the Spurs man in the Premier League. Even Marcus Rashford is slightly behind Abraham in the xG numbers, with 0.67 but he has also played almost 200 minutes more than Abraham.
That should be enough to silence any remaining doubters about the Chelsea striker’s capabilities in a team that is still a work in progress, much like England.
We suspect Gareth Southgate might also look at it the same way. Instead of trying to find a solution for the Harry Kane situation at the bottom of a glass of whiskey he’ll simply turn to Tammy Abraham to lead the line at the Euros.
Marcus Rashford on the left, Raheem Sterling on the right and Chelsea’s leading man Tammy Abraham banging them in through the middle. The summer can’t come soon enough.