Chelsea ace Tammy Abraham can be a top centre-forward after becoming Bristol City’s main man aged just 19
Gary O'Neil knows a quality English centre forward when he sees one after playing with Charlie Austin and Andy Carroll
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TAMMY ABRAHAM has all the tools to be a top Chelsea striker and he’ll have proven it if he can fire underdogs Bristol City into the Premier League this season, according to team-mate Gary O’Neil.
The striker is on loan at the Championship side - where he has set the league alight with eight goals in 13 games – and he has been carrying the hopes of the over-achieving club on his 19-year-old shoulders.
Midfielder O’Neil won three Premier League play-off final promotions in four seasons between 2011 and 2015, taking West Ham, QPR and Norwich to the promised land of milk and money alongside star strikers like Charlie Austin and Andy Carroll.
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So the 33-year-old midfielder knows what he’s talking about when he says the talented teenager is punching above his weight as he aims to fire the Robins into the top flight.
O'Neil said: "I think Tammy definitely has what it takes to be a top centre-forward.
“He’s still very young so us relying on him as much as we do might be tough for him at times, but I am sure he will figure it out.
“He’s been fantastic for us so far.
“I think we are capable of going up. I think it’ll be tough because it is a young group and there is not much experience, even at this level.
“I believe we would have to over-achieve if we were to stay up there. We had a fantastic start and now we’ve had a little blip. But the start has given us the belief that we can get enough points.”
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O’Neil’s Midas touch at getting teams into world’s richest league only pays off for him when he gets to put his feet up on a summer holiday, safe in the knowledge he has secured the futures of fans and staff around his club.
The scratch-handicap golfer holds his nerve like few others in those dicey final Championship weeks – and play-off finals – when others around him crumble with the yips.
Perhaps foolishly, he hasn’t got a personal promotion bonus in his contract but he admits Lee Johnson’s young guns into the top division would be his greatest achievement.
He said: “Getting clubs in the Premier League is nice feeling.
"When you go on holiday that summer knowing you have got all those supporters at least a year in the big league, that is the main satisfaction from it. And all the other people around the club that affects.
“It would be my biggest achievement to do it this season because Bristol City were in League One not long ago.
“It would be huge for me and the club and we have a long way to go and a lot of hard work to do.”