Tammy Abraham · Biography

On 17 August 2021 Chelsea sold Kevin Oghenetega Tamaraebi Bakumo-Abraham, known as Tammy Abraham, to Roma, and the striker left the club he had belonged to since under-eight level. Born on 2 October 1997 in Camberwell, south London, to Nigerian parents, the 1.94-metre forward arrived in Italy with three loan spells in English football behind him and a Champions League winner’s medal from Chelsea. In Rome he won a European trophy as a starter. He went on to play for AC Milan and Beşiktaş before returning to Aston Villa in January 2026.

Chelsea academy

Abraham joined Chelsea as a boy and came through every age group. In 2015 and 2016 he was part of the sides that won both the FA Youth Cup and the UEFA Youth League, scoring eight goals in nine games in the 2015-16 Youth League. Across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons he scored 74 goals in 98 matches for the club’s youth teams. His first-team debut came on 11 May 2016, as a substitute in a 1-1 Premier League draw with Liverpool.

Loans at Bristol, Swansea and Villa

In August 2016 he joined Championship side Bristol City on a season-long loan. He scored 23 league goals in 41 appearances, 26 in 48 in all competitions, and collected the club’s Player of the Season, Young Player of the Season and top scorer awards. In 2017-18 he moved to Swansea City for his first full Premier League campaign, finishing with five league goals in 31 appearances and eight in 39 overall. The 2018-19 season was his most productive loan: at Aston Villa he scored 25 Championship goals in 37 games, was named the division’s Player of the Month for November 2018, made the PFA Team of the Year and helped the club to promotion through the 2019 play-offs.

Chelsea first team

Back at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2019, he was given a squad place by Frank Lampard. He scored 18 goals in 2019-20, a season that ended with defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup final. In 2020-21 he added 12 more, including an FA Cup hat-trick against Luton Town, and was part of the squad that won the 2021 Champions League. His first-team spell ended with 30 goals in 82 matches, 21 of them in 58 Premier League appearances. His Chelsea honours also include the 2021 UEFA Super Cup.

Mourinho’s Roma

At José Mourinho’s Roma, with Chelsea retaining a buy-back clause, Abraham scored 17 Serie A goals in 2021-22, the highest total by an English player in his first season in Italy’s top flight. On 25 May 2022 he played in Tirana in the final of the first Europa Conference League, which Roma won 1-0 against Feyenoord: his first European title as a starter. In 2022-23 he reached another final, the Europa League in Budapest, lost on penalties to Sevilla after a 1-1 draw. In round 38 of that Serie A campaign he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee; he did not play again until April 2024 and scored once in 2023-24. He left with 37 goals in 120 matches, 26 of them in 84 Serie A games.

Milan and Beşiktaş

On 30 August 2024 he joined AC Milan on loan. On 6 January 2025 he scored the stoppage-time winner in the Supercoppa Italiana final, a 3-2 victory over Inter. On 5 February 2025 he struck twice against Roma in a 3-1 Coppa Italia win, and he finished as the competition’s top scorer. His Milan spell produced 10 goals in 44 matches, three of them in 28 Serie A games. In the summer of 2025 he went on loan to Beşiktaş, scoring a hat-trick against St Patrick’s Athletic in a 4-1 Conference League qualifying win on 7 August 2025. He scored 13 goals in 26 matches, seven in 18 Süper Lig games, and the Istanbul club completed a permanent deal on 26 January 2026.

England

Abraham was eligible for Nigeria through his parents. In September 2017 Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick claimed he had switched allegiance, which the striker denied. At youth level he won five caps for England under-18s, 14 for the under-19s and 25 for the under-21s, scoring nine goals for the latter; one came in the semi-final of the 2017 European Under-21 Championship against Germany, lost on penalties, and in 2018 he won the Toulon Tournament. His senior debut came on 10 November 2017 in a 0-0 draw with Germany at Wembley. His first competitive cap, against the Czech Republic on 11 October 2019, tied him to England, and on 14 November 2019 he scored his first goal in a 7-0 win over Montenegro.

Return to Aston Villa

A day after his permanent move to Beşiktaş, on 27 January 2026, Aston Villa signed him. His first goal of this second spell came on 14 February 2026, in a 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Newcastle United. Villa went on to reach the Europa League final in Istanbul and won the club’s first trophy since the 1996 League Cup, giving Abraham a set of Champions League, Conference League and Europa League winner’s medals: Villa beat Freiburg 3-0 on 20 May 2026.