With AS Roma fans slowly looking forward to the return of domestic Serie A action as the current international break comes to a close, it seems the potential future of 11 capped England international striker, Tammy Abraham, could be even more key to manager Jose Mourinho’s own future, than originally believed.
With the recent speculation hinting of potentially strong interest in the former Chelsea Academy graduate from a few Premier League clubs, namely Manchester United and manager Erik ten Hag, it was suggested that Roma would be open to a move happening this summer as a means of further ensuring that Mourinho’s claimed own budgetary wants could be met, as the club look to secure a new, extended, contract with the 60 year old and there would be a variety of odds available on the likes of captaingambling.com on that happening.
A more recent report has elaborated slightly on those budgetary wants, and it is now rumoured that as part of the ongoing contractual talks between Roma and Mourinho and his representatives, the self styled Special One has demanded that the club agree to sign three players in particular this summer, and although no concrete names have been referenced (as you would not expect at this stage), he has a defender and a midfielder high on his list of wants.
Crucially though, it seems he is already planning for life without 25 year old Abraham, as he is also insisting on a striker as a direct replacement, if these rumours are to be believed.
It made sense for Roma to encourage some kind of bidding war for the player if they were open to him leaving and returning to the English game, simply to maximise his value to bolster our own finances moving forward and with reports claiming that former club, Chelsea, already have a first refusal built in at the princely sum of £71 million that comes into play at the end of the current season, we would undoubtedly be holding out for in the region of £50-60 million, which would go a long way in ensuring that Mourinho’s demands could be realistically met.
Il Corriere dello Sport newspaper further claimed that Mourinho himself was ‘in a hurry’ to sort his own future out as he continues planning for the coming 2023/24 campaign and further league improvements, but that our owners were prepared to take their time before meeting him directly to discuss his future, and then hammering out the true finer details and the promises that need to be made by each party.
Mourinho is obviously contracted up at Roma until the summer of 2024, but there are concerns from some quarters that unless his demands are met and he remains entirely happy at the Stadio Olimpico, that he will simply choose to walk away in a couple of months time and move on to another project instead.
With Mourinho’s own future at the club having been in doubt for quite a while now with speculation linking him to the previously vacant Newcastle United role, he refuses to take a potential Chelsea return off the table either and has been previously quoted as saying.
‘I just know the club has reached such a level that it doesn’t matter who it’s with, Chelsea will always be Chelsea. Chelsea will always be. My house will always be 200 metres from the stadium and I want to keep listening to the sound of happiness and success and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be like that.’
With Graham Potter’s tenure continuing to not quite go to plan, the longer it takes for Mourinho to pen his own new deal, speculation about a Stamford Bridge return will only grow further.
