Tammy Abraham reveals Chelsea omissions last season under Thomas Tuchel did ‘mess with me mentally’

Tammy Abraham has opened up about the end of his Chelsea career admitting that Thomas Tuchel’s decisions to omit him in their biggest games provided a ‘low point’ in his career.

Last season was one full of upheaval for the Blues as club legend Frank Lampard was sacked as manager midway through it and replaced by Thomas Tuchel. However, the latter did guide the west London outfit to Champions League glory to end the term on a fabulous high note.

Despite the team success under Tuchel, the German’s appointment was a turning point in Abraham’s career with his boyhood club – whom he left last summer for Roma.

Tammy Abraham (left) says Thomas Tuchel’s decisions not to play him at Chelsea did ‘mess with me mentally’ last season – with the striker not starting a game under him from February

Abraham wasn’t in the matchday squad for the Blues’ FA Cup final defeat by Leicester City

And he was also omitted from their Champions League final success against Manchester City

The striker finished the season as the club’s joint-top goalscorer with Timo Werner on 12 goals but was just an onlooker as Tuchel continuously overlooked him. 

This was emphasised by the fact the German, who was appointed in January 2021, didn’t start Abraham for a game since February and was left out of Chelsea’s squads for both the FA Cup final (1-0 defeat by Leicester) and the Champions League final (1-0 win over Manchester City) – a crushing blow to Abraham.

‘I was the (joint) highest scorer in the FA Cup (with four goals) and to be told I wasn’t in the squad for the final, you can only imagine how I felt,’ he told The Athletic.

‘It wasn’t a nice feeling. But I was there to support the boys. I would always do that – good times and bad times – and the same with the Champions League. I just wanted my team to do well and win.

‘I’ll admit it was a very low point in my career. It did mess with me mentally for a bit. It got to a point towards the back end of the season where I was stropping, I was annoyed, because I’m working hard in training and I wasn’t getting the chances. I was doing the best I could, getting in early and finishing late, training drills, finishing drills, and still wasn’t getting a look in.

‘I could understand if I wasn’t in great form or wasn’t training well or had a bad attitude. I just didn’t understand. I was working so hard. I was having players coming up to me saying, “You were unbelievable today in training”. That was the hardest part.’

Abraham says he couldn’t understand his omissions – despite playing well in training every day

Abraham swapped the English capital for the Italian one in a £34million deal last summer – seeing him work under ex-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

And speaking about the Portuguese figure, the 24-year-old can only speak glowingly about the impact his ‘uncle’ has had on him.

‘I’ll never forget Jose’s first few words to me. He said: “Do you want to stay in rainy England or come and enjoy some sun in Rome?” We laughed and had a good chat. He played a massive part in getting me here. I call him my uncle of Italy.’

That family-like bond has clearly worked for Roma’s No 9 – having scored 24 times in all competitions, equalling a 93-year-old record for a debut season at the club.

Abraham is enjoying life at Roma now under Jose Mourinho – calling him his ‘uncle of Italy’

The 24-year-old has scored 24 times in all competitions for the Italian outfit so far this season