Tammy Abraham: Jose Mourinho persuaded me to leave England for Roma

Roma's Tammy Abraham says he was initially reluctant to leave the Premier League, but Jose Mourinho persuaded him to do so.

The England striker left Chelsea for Mourinho's Roma for £34m in August and has scored four goals in 10 games.

"I feel like it was home, being around London, being around England. It was home," said Abraham.

"I think I had to open my wings a bit and make a choice and I chose Italy and would not change it."

The 24-year-old was at Chelsea since under-eight level and scored 30 goals in 82 games for the Blues' first team as well as several loan spells at other English sides.

Mourinho had two spells as Chelsea boss - but before Abraham's debut - and took over at Roma this summer.

"I had different options," said Abraham, who is in the England squad for World Cup qualifiers with Andorra and Hungary.

"There were so many clubs I was speaking to at the time. Italy came and I spoke to Jose. He had a goal.

"I could see where he wanted Roma to go and see where he wants to take them and I wanted to be part of the process. He really put his trust in me so he was a big impact on the reason why I chose Roma.

"The first thing he said to me was when I picked up the phone he was like 'do you want to enjoy some sun or stay in the rain?' I laughed."

Abraham said he "didn't really understand" why he struggled to get in the Chelsea team under Thomas Tuchel.

"I think the easy option would've been to stick around and sit down," Abraham said.

"Chelsea's a massive club, they will compete and try to win trophies so the easy option would've been to do that.

"I realised that I needed to go out and prove myself, I needed to play some games. I took a decision and it was the right one."