I was on PlayStation when I got Jose Mourinho's call to leave Chelsea - I sprinted away

Tammy Abraham has revealed the conversation he had on a surprise call from Jose Mourinho that prompted him to pack his bags at Chelsea and leave for AS Roma.

As he returned from a successful loan spell at Aston Villa in 2019, Abraham was welcomed back to Chelsea with the view of breaking into the first-team under the stewardship of Frank Lampard. For a youngster at Stamford Bridge, it doesn't get much better than that.

He would go on to net 18 times that term then added another 12 the season after, though an ankle injury partnered with a change of manager in the dugout would bring about the beginning of the end for the Cobham youth.

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Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League by converting Kai Havertz to his central attacking option, then splashed £97.5m on Romelu Lukaku. Even if that proved not to be best piece of business, Abraham's place in the German's plans was non-existent.

"I was on the PlayStation with my friends,' Abraham recalls, speaking to BBC Sport, about the summer of 2021. "I received a call, I picked up and I said 'hello?'

"And he said, 'Hello, Tammy. it's Jose. Do you want to stay in rainy England or come to sunny Rome?' I remember just running upstairs and telling my parents, and we thought Rome was the place to go."

As disappointing for Chelsea supporters it would be to see a once-promising academy talent relocate, Abraham's decision was vindicated by the mere fact he returned to regularly playing in the 2021/22 campaign. He scored 27 goals in 53 games for Mourinho's side.

Unfortunately, a season-ending knee injury the year after curtailed his days with the former Blues boss in the Italian capital, as before he had returned Mourinho had been sacked.

"Jose was one of the best coaches I have had,' the 27-year-old states. "He was a manager, he always believed in what he believed in and as a player you feel the energy and you kind of buy into that.

"I don't regret one thing, I've loved it and it's been amazing," he finally concluded about the end of his Chelsea career.

Admitting he still watches the club's progress at his new loan club AC Milan, he added: "They have a good team. Players like Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson. I would like to see them finish in the top four because they have 50 players or something like that who are all good players so they can do it.

"Hopefully [we can play them in the Champions League next year], that would be nice."