Former Chelsea star wants Tammy Abraham to join West Ham

Carlton Cole knows what it’s like to swap Chelsea for West Ham and the ex-striker has urged Tammy Abraham to follow in his footsteps this summer.

Abraham’s future at Stamford Bridge is in major doubt under Blues boss Thomas Tuchel.

Despite being the club’s top goalscorer this season with 12 goals, Abraham has not been playing for the west London outfit regularly.

As a result of this, the 23-year-old has been linked away this summer and Cole believes a switch to east London would be ‘perfect’ for him.

“If he was to come to West Ham, I’d welcome him with open arms,” Cole told Bookmakers.co.uk.

“He would be the perfect person to lead that front line.

“We’ve got Michail Antonio there, who is a top player, but Tammy could come in and challenge for that place and that’s what West Ham need, there’s no one to challenge Antonio. Tammy would be perfect.

“I’ve always liked a technical big striker and he could be the ideal fit for West Ham because they can play a bit of football this team, and he’d fit straight in, especially if we can keep [Jesse] Lingard.”

Abraham has found himself behind Timo Werner, Olivier Giroud and Kai Havertz in Tuchel’s striker hierarchy and Cole – who swapped Chelsea for West Ham in 2006, aged 22 – believes Abraham is now at a crossroads in his career.

“With Tammy, I think he’s one of those players who needs an arm around him,” he continued.