Jose Mourinho admits Edin Dzeko’s move to Inter was ‘a surprise’ and praised Tammy Abraham for showing ‘ambition’ by leaving Chelsea for Roma. ‘It’s always tough for an English player to leave his country.’

Dzeko had been on the verge of leaving for several years, finally making the transfer this summer practically for free, as it’s believed the Giallorossi will only receive €1.8m if Inter qualify for the Champions League.

“I have to say the general manager and owners have been brilliant,” said Mourinho on Roma TV.

“The reality is that we started pre-season thinking we had Dzeko and what happened was a bit of a surprise for all of us.

“In an incredibly difficult market and in a financial situation that is difficult for every, or more precisely, almost every club, having the willingness, the ambition, the respect for the fans’ emotions and reacting in this way after losing Dzeko and bringing in Tammy Abraham was a real coup.”

Abraham was signed from Chelsea for €40m plus bonuses, although only €5m of that will be paid now, the rest spread out over several years.

“I prefer to say wait and see for Tammy, but I say that with total confidence. I’ve known him since he was a boy. He never played for me, because he was a 14, 15, 16-year-old when I was at Chelsea, but I know him very well.

“I know him as a player, a person and in terms of mentality. It is always tough for an English player to leave his country and the Premier League, and that says so much about him. If you leave the Premier League, it’s because you are ambitious, because you want to get back into your national team, because you want to play at the World Cup and win outside of England, where not many English players have had brilliant careers.

“He comes here with that ambition and we hope to see his best qualities as a player. With Tammy, Eldor Shomurodov and Borja Mayoral, we have attacking options that I’m very pleased about.

“We don’t have the experience you might see at Juventus with Cristiano Ronaldo, at Milan with Olivier Giroud and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, given they are all well-established, but in terms of potential, I couldn’t be happier with the players we have.”

2 thought on “Mourinho: ‘Abraham showed ambition with Roma move’”
  1. He wouldn’t have moved if Lukaku hadn’t have joined. He doesn’t want to be a third choice striker. This is mutual gain for him and Chelsea. Chelsea make money and Abraham doesn’t rot on the Chelsea bench.

  2. Lukaku not worth the money? Only a healthy Zaniolo,Chiesa or Dybala is worth that in Serie A. I would even take Lozano from Napoli over him or even Ronaldo

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