Tammy Abraham is under pressure from all sides to perform for Roma if he is to earn a place with England at the World Cup and fight off competition at club level from Andrea Belotti.
The striker had a sensational debut season in Italy, finding the net 27 times with six assists in 53 competitive games, culminating in celebrations to lift the inaugural Europa Conference League trophy.
However, he has struggled to keep that consistency going in the current campaign, scoring only twice in seven Serie A appearances.
He has also been practically ignored by England manager Gareth Southgate, playing just one 65-minute game in the Nations League group phase, in the 0-0 draw against Italy back in June.
Although included in the England squad, Abraham never got off the bench, even in a ‘dead rubber’ 3-3 draw with Germany after their relegation was already guaranteed.
It probably did not help that the Serie A match Southgate attended this season was Roma’s 4-0 defeat to Udinese, but considering England went 500 minutes without a goal from open play, the refusal to even try him out is worrying.
The pressure is on Abraham at Roma too, because free signing Belotti is pushing for a place in the starting XI, especially as he already worked with Paulo Dybala at Palermo.
Abraham turns 25 on Sunday, with three goals in 11 senior England caps, but his presence at the 2022 World Cup in November is by no means guaranteed.
Shomurodov is Roma‘s most in form attacker right now.
I am sad that he is not allowed to show his worth.