Tammy Abraham has said the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Romelu Lukaku helped inspire him to leave Chelsea in the pursuit of regular first-team football.
Abraham, 24, left his boyhood club Chelsea last summer, ending a 17-year stay at the club to sign for Serie A side Roma for £34 million.
The England international has quickly become a fan favourite at the Stadio Olimpico, scoring 24 goals so far in his debut season in Italy.
And, speaking to The Athletic’s Alan Shearer in an exclusive interview which you can read here, Abraham has said the success of some of Chelsea’s former players helped inform his decision to leave Stamford Bridge.
Abraham said: “I’ve seen the likes of De Bruyne, Salah and Lukaku leave Chelsea and spread their wings. They’re the best players in the world.
“For me, it’s about doing the same thing and even if it’s not the Premier League, it’s about going out and learning a different culture and experiencing different things.
“It’s about saying, ‘you know what, this is my time’.”
Abraham also said that he received advice from the England manager Gareth Southgate prior to his move to Roma.
He added: “[We spoke] a few times towards the back end of last season, just explaining what I was going through and my mental state and he helped me a lot and gave me good advice.
“He said, ‘listen, do the best you can for you, build yourself back up and hopefully next season you’ll be playing again’. Those words helped me a lot.”