Tammy Abraham has had a great start to life at AC Milan, but the management are looking around at other strikers in the event they are unable to sign him permanently.
As this morning’s edition of Tuttosport (via MilanNews) writes, Abraham’s impact on the world of Milan has been more positive than probably even he can imagine. Since his first appearance against Lazio, a match in which the Englishman provided an assist for Leao, the former Roma man has shown a desire to fight for a permanent stay.
Abraham has already made many steps forward towards earning himself a stay at Milan beyond this season. What was striking at first was his attitude and desire to run after every ball; secondly his tactical usefulness, immediately understood by coach Fonseca – who wanted him at all costs – deserving of having carved out for him the role of first striker with Alvaro Morata behind him.
The attacking pair has become a regular part of the line-up now and has solved some of the problems. However, the issue with Abraham is that he only arrived on a dry loan which means that some negotiating with Roma will be necessary to keep him beyond June.
Therefore, Abraham will have to keep performing well while also having an eye on other targets that might emerge. Yesterday Santiago Gimenez – a Mexican striker from Feyenoord who has been in the Rossoneri’s sights for some time – caused a bit of a stir with his comments.
“Milan tried to sign me on the last day of the transfer market. They sent an offer to Feyenoord but nothing came of it,” he said.
“Going to Milan would have been a dream for me because when I was a boy I grew up with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká. In the end it didn’t happen, but the fact that there is interest makes you feel important and this option is still open.”
These are significant words that open up a lot of paths for the future of Milan, even if the management are for now ready to evaluate Abraham and see how his loan spell progresses.
All depends on the fee. For the same €€ I’d take Gimenez as I think he has potential whereas Tammy is gonna get no better. But…
Tammy contract expires 2026 I believe, so if Roma doesn’t play hardball we could sign him permanently for sub €20mn whereas Feyenoord would demand much more for Gimenez.
Also depends how well Tammy does here, if he’s injury prone or doesn’t display a clinical edge in front of goal I can see us looking elsewhere.
Abraham has convinced me. I think the lack of open play goals is due to a bit of bad luck more than any real shortcoming; I believe that his goals are coming. Meanwhile, his attitude is fantastic and contagious. He has tremendous work ethics and great effort. I respect him.
Here at Milan we are generally impatient. We demand a lot of our players and get frustrated when they need some time to gel and are not immediately effective. Just look at how a segment of the fan base has criticized Fofana saying he fwas “nothing special” after a somewhat shaky debut; now Fofana is slowly growing into an excellent player who is an asset for the team.
Fofana was mostly inactive during the off-season during the long negotiations for his sale; arrived late to a new league, a new team, and a new coach. Taking a while to get to full speed in this situation is normal. Tammy also needs a bit of time but has already been showing lots of qualities; more goals are still missing but like I said, I think they are coming.
As for Gimenez, he is a good player but he is not a Milan player currently, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that he will be. So, for me, this phrase “while Gimenez lurks in the background” is at this point just speculation.
I am with Fonseca when he said “I like Gimenez, but I like Morata and Abraham more.” That was classy of Fonseca, supporting his current players.
I hope Morata does well for us and we rescue him permanently after the loan. i hope he stays healthy.
Both are great players. I love Gimenez but if Abraham is significantly cheaper, that’s who we’ll get. I believe Gimenez was around 45M over the summer