In a recent interview (via Football.London), West Ham United boss David Moyes ruled out a summer move for Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham. When asked about the possibility of a £45m move for the English striker, Moyes was quick to squash the rumour as he said,
“It would rule us out completely. We will be ruled out.
“So if that’s the figure and that’s what’s being said, we are ruled out. We don’t have that money, we don’t have that to buy a striker at that price, no.”
Moyes went on to add,
“It may well be [the total spend]. But you never know here. I don’t think we will be making a purchase of that for any one player. I’d be surprised if we were.
“From the conversations with the owner I’ve got an idea of what sort of cash will be available, at that moment in time it didn’t change whether it was finishing tenth, fourth or whatever it didn’t change at all. There is probably a lack of money in the game.”
Abraham’s Up And Down Season At Stamford Bridge
Abraham made a promising start to this campaign but has struggled to earn a regular run of games under Thomas Tuchel’s tutelage because of an ankle injury. The London-born marksman has found the back of the net on 12 occasions and secured six assists in 32 matches for the Blues this term across all fronts.
Quite a few of Abraham’s appearances have been off the bench in the Premier League this season which explains why he is only averaging 1.5 shots, 0.4 key passes and 0.3 dribbles per game in league football. The 23-year-old needs to be more accurate with his ball distribution because he has completed 72.7% of his attempted passes in the English top tier (stats via whoscored).
Did Moyes Make The Right Call By Ruling Out A Move For Abraham?
Abraham is a powerful runner with the ball and has developed into a decent finisher in front of the opponent’s goal. Standing at 1.90m, he can also be a threat from set-pieces and has scored his fair share of goals via headers.
West Ham boss David Moyes could have undeniably benefitted from a player of Abraham’s goal-scoring prowess and athleticism. However, paying £45m for the English frontman will be too steep for the Hammers, especially due to the financial constraints brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With all things considered, Moyes seems to have made the right call as it seems financially inadvisable for West Ham to pay so much for Abraham, who has not played regularly for a long time and might not be too encouraged by the prospect of playing second-fiddle to Michail Antonio at the London Stadium next season.
