Club Manager Wants Tammy Abraham To Pick England Ahead Of Nigeria

Swansea City manager Paul Clement has revealed that he wants striker Tammy Abraham to reject Nigeria in favour of England.

Earlier reports on Thursday had claimed that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were trying to persuade Tammy Abraham to switch allegiance to Nigeria, who he can play for through his father.

Speaking about the England Under-21 international, who is on loan at Swansea City from Chelsea, Paul Clement was adamant that he won’t influence Tammy Abraham’s decision.

Clement,  who was speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s league clash with Watford, said: “For me, from my point of view, I hope he stays with the English national team.”

“I’m not sure he’d be better off career-wise, I’m saying it because I’m English and he’s a good English talent, so you want him involved with your national team.

“Ultimately, it’s the decision of the player. In some cases, they’ll make the choice because they see a better opportunity, a chance of playing more regularly at international level and in other cases, it’s because it’s where they believe they’re from and they want to represent the country where they were born or where their parents were born and it’s in their culture.

“Whatever their reasons are, it’s down to the player to decide.

“The fact that he’s come through the English system, first at Academy level and also playing for the English national teams, I think that puts them at an advantage.” he added.

 

Speaking further about the 19-year old, Clement disclosed that he was happy about the contributions of Tammy Abraham in the colours of Swansea City. He has scored 2 goals in 7 appearances. Clement said: “He has made the biggest step of his career. I’m not surprised how he’s done so far, I think he’s done fine and he’s going to get better and better.”

“The biggest step in going to the Premier League. You see it so many times, young players making the step and how difficult it is, how difficult it is for foreign players to come over and make that step into this league.

“He’s done lots of good things and he’s done some things where he could have improved, but he’s in a good environment to get the right kind of help. Myself, the coaches work with all our players helping them get better at what they’re not so good at.” he concluded.