Thomas Tuchel gives honest assessment of Tammy Abraham situation

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he may be partially responsible for home-grown striker Tammy Abraham failing to reach his full potential at Stamford Bridge.

Abraham started only twice in the Premier League after Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard in January, substituted at half-time on both occasions, and didn’t play a single minute of the Champions League knockout stages as Chelsea went all the way.

90min revealed in May that the Chelsea hierarchy have not been particularly impressed by Abraham following his request for a big new contract, while the imminent arrival of Romelu Lukaku in west London will only further push the 23-year-old out of contention.

Transfer talks have yielded an agreement with Roma, although Abraham is thought to prefer to stay in the Premier League and specifically in London. Arsenal are interested but Chelsea would rather not sell to a direct rival, while the Gunners would have to raise funds for an approach.

For now, Abraham remains a Chelsea player and is part of Tuchel’s squad of the UEFA Super Cup against Villarreal in Belfast on Wednesday night.

"I will not comment on the actual situations - how far this is and if it's true and not true. Tammy is right now in the squad. He did some good preparation matches,” the Chelsea boss is quoted as saying by Sky Sports when asked about the Abraham situation.

"He was clearly not happy with the last half a year and maybe he has reason also not to be happy and maybe it was also my fault not to push him, not to trust him on the same level I maybe trusted other players,” Tuchel explained.

“I can absolutely understand that he wants more minutes. So the decision will be 'how do we plan, what are Tammy's plans, does he fight his way back into the team from the position where he ended last season or does he want to change club to have the chance of being a regular starter?'”

For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!