What Tammy Abraham did to Daniel Farke in 2019 shows Leeds United should sign him now

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As West Brom prepare to take on Leeds United at Elland Road, Daniel Farke’s backline will once again go eyeball to eyeball with Adam Armstrong.

There are very few players in England’s second tier capable of giving the centre-back pairing of Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk sleepless nights.

But if there is anyone capable of striking fear into the league leaders, it is the man who scored five times in three successive wins against Leeds United last season. Including, of course, the goal which shattered West Yorkshire hearts and secured a Premier League return for Southampton at their expense.

Leeds were heavily linked with Adam Armstrong at the end of the winter window, too. That is, before play-off-seeking West Brom agreed terms with Southampton instead, The Baggies giving their own promotion prospects an almighty leg up in the process.

“[Armstrong] is a proven goalscorer at this level,” Farke said during his press conference on Thursday, Leeds looking to maintain or even extend their five-point lead on Saturday.

“He’s scored so many crucial goals. One of the major tasks for the weekend [is to keep Armstrong quiet].”

Daniel Farke knows what Leeds United target Tammy Abraham can do

Talking of centre-forwards who have done the business against a Daniel Farke side, Tammy Abraham has emerged as a summer target for Leeds despite an underwhelming loan spell at Italian giants AC Milan.

Abraham has just two Serie A goals from an XG of six in a Rossoneri shirt.

The dead-eyed poacher who once looked like the future of not only Chelsea but also the English national team has been relatively MIA since Abraham’s career was put on hold for an entire year when rupturing his cruciate ligament in the middle of 2023.

Could a return to England – four years after parent club AS Roma invested £35 million in his services – be the fresh start Abraham needs as his Italian adventure goes somewhat sour?

Well, one thing is for certain, Farke knows first hand just how deadly Abraham can be when at his fittest, sharpest and most confident.

Back in 2019, as the German’s Norwich City outfit hosted Chelsea at Carrow Road, the former Aston Villa loanee needed only three minutes to open the scoring with a volley as sharp as a razor and as accurate as Luke Littler on double ten.

It was the sort of emphatic, instinctive, ruthless finish usually reserved for the very best centre-forwards.

And while Abraham would develop a reputation for being something of a penalty-box poacher, his second in that 3-2 win in East Anglia was anything but. Picking up the ball around 25 yards out, up against two Norwich defenders, Abraham breezed past one, skipped beyond another and drove another lethal finish into Tim Krul’s goal from outside the box.

Tammy Abraham can be a ‘fantastic’ centre-forward when on top form

“I thought he was fantastic. The finishes were really good,” then-Chelsea boss and the man Leeds fans love to hate – Frank Lampard – would say after Farke’s Norwich suffered the first of many valiant defeats in a season which ended in relegation.

“The first goal I thought was a top finish and the second one as well that wins us the game, yeah, really good.

“I ask a lot from the strikers. I want them to work off the ball, I want them to run channels, I want them to hold it up, I want everything from them So in those conditions, it was tough for him. But Tammy showed today with the stature of him, the size of him, the quality that he’s got.

“If he’s on it and he’s running and he’s causing problems, then he can be a really good all-round striker.”

Abraham would score 18 goals during that breakout season in Chelsea blue. A tally he’d go on to better a couple of years later at Roma, plundering 27 in his maiden campaign at the Stadio Olimpico.

Speaking of 27, Abraham should be a footballer entering his prime as he enters the mid-point of a promising, occasionally prolific and yet somewhat underwhelming career.

There is, then, plenty of juice left in the tank, and plenty of time to put an injury-interrupted couple of seasons behind him while bouncing back stronger, sharper and more ruthless than ever.

And if Farke needs any reminding of just how devastating Tammy Abraham can be – as Leeds begin compiling their summer striker wishlist – he need only cast his mind back to 2019.