West Ham are waiting for Chelsea to sign another striker before making their move for Tammy Abraham, according to reports in England.
The stance has surprised many supporters on Twitter, who believe Chelsea would much prefer to sell the England international first in order to fund their transfer business:
The incompetence is unreal.
— Hammers Thru & Thru (@camwestham) July 19, 2021
Basically west ham want Chelsea to sign a striker so we can get Tammy cheaper as they won’t need him
— George wassell (@georgiewaffle92) July 19, 2021
Ffs. Make them an offer. They might move fir theirs more quickly.
— Ian Culley-Morgan (@IanCulleyMorga2) July 19, 2021
Chelsea are waiting to Sell Tammy before buying another striker pic.twitter.com/KrpEtf8AVN
— Viraj Mandhare (@CFCMandhare) July 19, 2021
Ok so Lingard chance is gone. Now we depend on Abraham to move on.
— Ⲋⲁⳕ? (@SaidTalks) July 19, 2021
You know whats funny ??/ ???The chances of chelea signing a striker has become very very slim.
— Mr_Incredible (@__KingIsaiah) July 19, 2021
There is a couple of ways of looking at this. The sale of Olivier Giroud to AC Milan may have genuinely changed Chelsea’s own stance on selling Abraham, therefore the Hammers’ position would make more sense.
The more cynical, and probably likelier, explanation is that West Ham are hoping that Abraham’s price will drop nearer to the end of the transfer window when Chelsea have had time to sign another forward.
In both cases, though, it doesn’t bode well for the Irons in terms of bringing in a number nine. Abraham was always a long shot due to his £40m asking price but, even so, this latest development is very disappointing.