Paul Clement insists Chelsea cannot reclaim Tammy Abraham to solve their own Premier League problems.
The Swansea City manager has made it clear than Abraham can only be recalled under specific circumstances if he is cold-shouldered for selection at the Liberty Stadium.
But with the England U21 striker having already made eight league appearances and scored four goals – including both in last week’s 2-0 win over Huddersfield – Clement says there is no chance of that happening.
Chelsea do have a recall option in January but Clement said: “Tammy is on a season long loan here, but there is a stipulation in place that if he does not meet a certain proportion of games by the halfway stage he can be recalled.
“That is a normal thing to have in place on a season long loan. It is to protect the player and to make sure he has the right amount of game time, making sure he is not going out somewhere and sitting on the bench.
“That was never in my thought process. It was always that if we were going to bring a player of his ability he was going to come to play .
“As we stand there is no reason to think he would not meet that criteria. He’s well on course for that, he will be here for the year.”
With Wilfried Bony again unfit to face Leicester City on Saturday and having struggled for form and fitness since returning from Manchester City, the importance of Abraham to Clement is unlikely to diminish in the coming weeks.
Bony has a hamstring injury, so Abraham is set to lead the line again against managerless Leicester. For Clement, the player who scored 25 goals for Bristol City on loan in the Championship last season has adjusted well to the top level, but still has far more to display.
“He has shown he is a goal-scorer and against Huddersfield it was a better all-round performance where he was part of our build-up play and he contributed defensively.
“We want him to develop in all parts of his game, not just goal-scoring, and he has a job to help all parts of the team. He has a lot of talent, as he has shown at all levels he has played at.
“This is the biggest step. It hasn’t all been plain sailing since he’s been here, he’s had some indifferent performances, but he continues to work hard and listens to things we want him to improve on.
“If he keeps grounded, focussed and keeps working on the things we want him to work on he can go a long way.”
As for Bony, Clement insists he is not overly concerned at the Ivorian’s inability to hit the ground running and it could even have been anticipated.
He added: “The fact is he has not played regularly for a couple of years.
“He had an intermittent pre-season, so his body is a little behind where his mind is. So we have to get the two up to speed as quick as possible. We have to make sure now there are no mistakes going forward.
“We have to get him fit, get him ready and implement him back into games at the right moment.”
