He’s Tam-tastic so far... but how does Abraham rank in Swans scoring stakes?
TAMMY Abraham would have wished for Swansea City to have a few more points on the board at this stage of the season, but from a personal point of view the onloan Chelsea striker must be pleased with his start to life in SA1.
The 20-year-old has four goals from eight Premier League appearances, plus a goal against MK Dons in the Carabao Cup to his name.
It’s an impressive return for a man playing his first full season in the top-flight and the stats show it measures favourably compared to the record of other new acquisitions during Swansea’s time in the Premier League.
In fact, there is only one player – a certain man called Michu – who has enjoyed a better start to life at the Liberty during the Premier League era. The new men who made fast starts The forward arrived from Rayo Vallecano for a fee of just over £2million with little fanfare, but he would soon become one of the greatest bargain signings to be pulled off in top-flight history.
He would end the season with 22 goals in all competitions to his name having wasted very little time getting out of the blocks.
In his first eight league games in a Swansea shirt, he had already scored six goals, including his memorable debut brace at QPR as Michael Laudrup’s men started the season with a thumping 5-0 win at Loftus Road.
The only other new signing to match or surpass Abraham’s tally was Andre Ayew.
Following his arrival on a free transfer from Marseille the Ghanaian would also score four goals in his first eight Premier League appearances.
That included his clever finish at Chelsea and a thumping header in the home win over Manchester United as Garry Monk’s men started the season in fine form. Unfortunately, it was not to last.
Leroy Fer would also score four goals in eight Premier League appearances at the start of last season, having seen his loan move from QPR made into a permanent switch.
But his first eight Premier League games as a Swan, during that loan spell, did not yield a single goal.
Danny Graham was Swansea’s major attacking addition ahead of the club’s Premier League bow.
The former Watford man went on to have a fine maiden season after a slow start saw him score two goals during his first eight appearances.
Some new signings did not get on quite so well. Wilfried Bony found game-time limited when he first joined from Vitesse Arnhem and he scored twice during his first eight Premier League appearances.
However, it should be pointed out that in all competitions he scored five from his first eight games.
Record signing Borja Baston scored just once in his first eight league appearances and would not add to that tally over the rest of the season.
Itay Shechter and Alvaro Vazquez did not trouble the scorers during their opening octet of league outings and Bafetimbi Gomis did not score in the