Tammy Abraham hopes that his pre-season performances have given him the chance to remain at Chelsea for the season, although he faces a tough battle for a place in the first team at Stamford Bridge.
Alvaro Morata started the Community Shield defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, while there is also the presence of Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi in Maurizio Sarri’s squad.
Giroud and Batshuayi are returning to London this week and will have conversations with Sarri over their futures at the club.
World Cup-winning striker Giroud is attracting interest from Marseille, although he has outlined his aim is to remain at Chelsea and fight for his place.
Batshuayi, meanwhile, has seen Valencia and Sevilla express an interest over a summer move, with the 24-year-old having been given few chances to impress under former boss Antonio Conte.
Abraham, meanwhile, hopes that he can remain at Stamford Bridge, despite having Aston Villa wanting to secure him on loan, and says he is happy that Sarri has involved him in the club’s pre-season programme.
“For me, hopefully it’s at Chelsea,” said Abraham, reflecting on his future. “I would like to remain in the first team, do the best I can and get a couple of goals to my name as well and see where it goes from there. Hopefully I can lift a trophy at the end of the season.
“My main focus right now is staying at Chelsea and obviously I’m here right now and playing and I couldn’t really ask for more. We are a team at Chelsea, there is obviously going to be massive competition, it’s never going to be easy and for me, as a young guy.
“I’ve always wanted to make my way into the Chelsea team and fight my way to the top. A team like Chelsea, one of the best teams in the world, obviously are going to have great strikers as well, besides myself, so it’s all about hard work in training.”
The 20-year-old has already had two successful loan spells at Bristol City and Swansea City, which led to him earning two international caps for England in 2017-18.
The summer transfer window closes for English clubs at 17.00 BST on Thursday, but players will still be allowed to move overseas or on loan to EFL clubs until August 31.
