Italian life is suiting Tammy, believes England ace Saka
BUKAYO Saka has praised Tammy Abraham for adjusting to life in Italy as the England striker toasted his international return with a goal against Andorra.
Abraham missed out on a place at Euro 2020 having fallen out of favour at Chelsea towards the end of last season.
He opted to move to Roma in the summer and link up with former Blues boss Jose Mourinho in the Italian capital.
Abraham has started the season well in Serie A and earned an England recall after being added to Gareth Southgate’s squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary.
The 24-year-old started against Andorra, his first cap in 11 months, and marked his return with a goal in the 5-0 victory.
Saka (circled, right) also scored in the comfortable Group I win but singled out Abraham when asked who else he was pleased for following the game.
“I’m really happy for Tammy,” he told ITV Sport. “I’m just really happy he got his goal because he’s been working really hard, he’s been in really good form out in Italy so I’m really happy for him.
“It is football and different challenges will come up and I feel he’s dealt with this one (moving to Roma) well so far.
“I just wish him the best and I’m happy he got his goal.”
Saka grabbed the second goal of the night following Ben Chilwell’s opener, the Arsenal forward the benefactor of a fine Phil Foden pass before firing in his third senior international strike.
“His passing is special, he is a special player and he showed that,” Saka said of Foden, who put in an eye-catching performance at the Estadi Nacional.
“As we play, we recognise where the spaces are, how we can get in behind them and as the game went on he did it a few times and we realised that was a way we can get in behind them and score goals and we used it a lot.
“We played against Andorra last month so we know how to break them down but we know it’s not
easy, especially coming away here and playing on this pitch.
“They give their all to defend so it was good that we got an early goal and then we managed to get more and more and kill the game.”
Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate has urged patience with Jadon Sancho as the England winger continues to find his feet at Manchester United.
Sancho moved to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund during a summer which also saw him racially abused after missing a penalty in England’s shootout loss to Italy in the final of Euro 2020.
The 21-year-old has struggled to make an impact since joining United, with Three Lions boss Southgate admitting his form this season was not worthy of an international call-up.
But he included Sancho in his squad to show his “belief” in the forward, who then started the 5-0 World Cup qualifying win over Andorra on Saturday night.
Albeit against inferior opponents, Sancho provided two assists in a strong 72-minute showing.
“It was not easy for a winger in the game because quite often you are receiving the ball with two, sometimes three, defenders really close,” Southgate said.
“So you’ve got to pick the right moment to set the ball off and the right moments to back yourself to maybe take one or two of those players out and I thought he did that exceptionally well a couple of times.”
Southgate confirmed he had taken time out to speak to Sancho and backed him to show his form in the coming weeks.
“We shouldn’t be surprised that for a young player to have such a big change in his life, new league, new club, different style of play, different training regime, back living in Manchester, moving house and everything that’s involved in that, that’s a lot to take in,” he added.
“So it’s going to need time but he showed a lot of the qualities that he has (against Andorra) and I know that will come with the club as well.”