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Tammy Abraham has thanked Arsenal legend Ian Wright for praising him, amid rumors that the Gunners are interested in signing the England forward.
Football.London reports that the north London club were interested in signing Abraham from Chelsea last summer. However, he eventually decided to join Jose Mourinho's Roma for around £36 million.
Abraham has enjoyed a storming debut campaign in the Italian capital, scoring 24 goals in 45 appearances this season. He broke Gabriel Batistuta's record for most goals in a debut season for the Serie A side by scoring a brace against arch-rivals Lazio.
The 24-year-old's form hasn't gone unnoticed. According to the Mail, several big European clubs, including the Gunners, want to sign the 6' 5" forward in the summer.
For the north London club, Wright is their second-highest goalscorer of all time with 153 goals, only behind Thierry Henry (228). The Englishman was impressed with Abraham's performance in his side's 1-1 draw with Napoli on Sunday 17 March. He tweeted:
Abraham was appreciative of Wright's message, and simply replied saying:
Wright continues to praise Abraham as Arsenal desperate lack of goals becomes clear
This isn't the first time Wright has praised the former Blues striker. He even claimed on his podcast Wrighty's House that Abraham would be a perfect fit for Arteta's side.
The 58-year-old pundit said:
"The way Tammy has gone over there, he’s lit it up. I couldn’t see Mourinho taking Tammy there and it working like it’s worked. This is where Mourinho baffles me, where he’s said ‘I’ve all people, I’m going to take Tammy. I’m going to take him to Roma and put him in this team."
He added:
"I remember his first game. He was magnificent from the off. Everything that’s going on around him, it just feels like he’s that guy. We tried to get him, Arsenal, and when you look at how Arsenal play now, how Tammy is playing, you say to yourself, ‘Mikel, you see the vision!’ When it was happening you think, ‘Yeah, I could see it happening,’ because he ripped us to shreds (when he played for Chelsea).”
Arsenal have slipped to sixth in the Premier League following three successive defeats to mid-table opposition. Their lack of goals has become a major problem, having only scored 12 times since they let go of captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January.
That has left only two senior strikers at the Emirates. Alexandre Lacazette has only netted two top-flight goals from open play this season. Meanwhile, Eddie Nketiah, is yet to score in his 14 league appearances this season. Both centre-forwards are out of contract this summer and are likely to leave the club.
