Jose Mourinho has claimed that he would sell Tammy Abraham this summer, if the striker wants to leave Roma.
Arsenal are strongly linked with a move for the England international as he nears the end of a strong first season in Italy, in which he has scored 24 goals and could lift the Europa Conference League trophy.
Chelsea hold a buy-back option on Abraham that can be enacted in a year’s time and Lupi boss Mourinho has outlined his confidence that the player will want to stay in Rome.
“Against Leicester he was absolutely amazing and at this moment I joke and say, ‘I refuse to praise him’ because he can always do better,” he told Sky Sports.
“He knows how happy I am. He knows how much I love the kid and the player and I'm proud of what we are doing and I'm so happy for Tammy. We have got into this situation where I demand a lot from him because I know he can do amazingly well.
“I don't think it's an easy decision for a young player to leave his club, his house, his city, his country and to leave the Premier League which is of course a competition that when a player is in its hard to leave.
“He took that option and I think he took it because he trusted me. And I think in this moment, if he wants to go back to England - I don't think he wants to no - but if he wants to go back to England he just needs to click his fingers and I'm so happy for him.”
Abraham is not the only English player to enjoy success in Serie A and Mourinho believes he serves as evidence that youngsters can improve their game away from the Premier League.
“He's back in the national team and is loved in Rome,” he continued.
“I don't say proven everybody wrong, because I think everyone knows he's a good player and I think also, with [Chris] Smalling, [Fikayo] Tomori and Tammy, showing the English boys that there is life outside the Premier League and in Italy there's a life that makes them even better players.”
