Arsenal have joined the likes of Aston Villa and West Ham in the race to sign Chelsea and England international striker, Tammy Abraham, this summer, local media reports.
UK Metro reports that Chelsea are willing to sell the 23-year-old for a record fee of £40 million this summer after he failed to secure a regular role in Thomas Tuchel’s side.
The Telegraph also confirmed Arsenal’s interest in Abraham, who is a boyhood Gunners fan and idolised Thierry Henry growing up, noting that the Gunners will need to offload certain players first to meet Chelsea’s £40m valuation fee.
The potential sale of Alexandre Lacazette, whose contract expires next summer, Granit Xhaka – who is wanted by Jose Mourinho in Roma, and Lucas Torreira – who is expected to be sold, would boost Arsenal’s chances of pursuing the former Aston Villa loanee.
Abraham was a regular starter for Chelsea until the sack of Frank Lampard in January and was the Blues top scorer in his last two seasons, scoring 21 Premier League goals in both seasons.
Speaking during a loan spell at Bristol City, Abraham said: “To be honest I was an Arsenal fan. It didn’t make any difference at Chelsea.
“When you’re young and you choose who to support, if it’s a family thing, it’s a family thing. Luckily for me it was a family thing, so it wasn’t really a problem at Chelsea.
“Someone I looked up to was Thierry Henry. His variations of finishing, his movement, the way he dribbles… someone like that has a key impact on me. I would love to be as big as him and maybe even better.”
Chelsea, on the other hand, would be willing to include Abraham as part of their bid for Erling Haaland who is valued at £150m by Borussia Dortmund but the German side are confident of his service for one more season.
