Tammy Abraham is fighting an uphill battle at Chelsea and is likely to fall even further down the pecking order next season because the club will sign a new striker in the summer.
That is according to former Chelsea defender Wayne Bridge, who believes that the Blues academy graduate needs to be on “absolute fire” just to catch manager Thomas Tuchel’s eye.
According to The Guardian, Abraham is considering his future at the club after being left out of the squad which beat Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup semi-final over the weekend.
Abraham is the Blues’ top scorer with 12 goals in 30 appearances this season, but has found his opportunities severely limited since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard in January.
Summer recruits Timo Werner and Kai Havertz have both played up front and the 23-year-old has not featured since the 1-1 draw against Southampton on February 20.
“It’s up to him to show the manager what he can do and the manager will decide whether it’s enough,” Bridge told bettingexpert.com.
“He has done well, but he hasn’t been amazing. He’s got to keep his head down and keep working hard, and if he does get a chance then he has to take it.
“Chelsea is such a massive club and Tammy has done well, he’s going to keep his head down and really impress the manager to get his chance again and he’s going to have to take it.
“He needs to be on absolute fire for Chelsea for them to not go and get someone big and that’s going to be a tough ask.”
Bridge said he would be “very surprised” if Chelsea don’t sign a new striker in the summer transfer window.
Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland are both likely to come onto the market at the end of the season and Bridge thinks Chelsea need a big-name striker to lead the line.
“It’s a very difficult situation at Chelsea with strikers at the moment and I think that’s the case because in the past they’ve had the likes of [Didier] Drogba, [Diego] Costa, [Nicolas] Anelka and some very big-name strikers that have achieved big things,” he said.
“The players right now have some big boots to fill.
“Chelsea are lacking up front and I’ll be very surprised if they don’t get a striker unless Tuchel ends up sticking with what he’s got and can get the best out of Timo Werner.”
