Tammy Abraham tells us about Fikayo Tomori, and vice versa, after 16 years together

Tuesday 08 Oct 2019

Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori have grown up together through the ranks with Chelsea and now find themselves together in the England squad. 

They’ve known each other since they were six, so we found out their own thoughts on each other, as they target a spot in Gareth Southgate’s team.

Tammy on Tomori

I know a lot of stories about this man!

But on the serious side, I remember we had a lot of discussions when we were younger, when we weren't getting into the England teams at our age group, and we just said it wasn't looking possible for us at that time.

But we both had faith, we're both true believers in God and we just had it in our prayers that one day we'd play for England. We weren't even focused on the first team then, it was just our age group at that time.

I remember when I got the call-up for the U18s and U19s and soon after, Fik got the call-up as well and we were talking about finally making it to England.

He's done so well since then, he's won the World Cup and other things and now we're at the top level with England and Chelsea. It's a dream come true and it still hasn't hit us properly yet.

We're just thankful, since the age of six, we've had so many stories together and now we're doing it at the top level, which has always been a dream for us.

Both Tammy and Fikayo have been regulars for Chelsea this season

We've enjoyed it this season, we've been focused from the start on being Chelsea players and credit to the manager, he's believed in us and we're just enjoying the moment right now.

I think it really hit us at Lille, we both looked around at the stadium and thought: 'It's crazy, this is the Champions League!'

And he assisted me for my goal as well. You can't write this stuff!

It was after the Lille game, we were buzzing and the gaffer grabbed us both and Mason told us: 'You're in the England squad.'

We were buzzing, me and Fik held each other, we made a Snapchat video. It was a late one when we got back, because I remember I was in bed when I saw it come up on the TV.

So we went out to have some food and some drinks and now we’re here.

The pair have been close throughout their years growing up together at Chelsea's academy and with the England development teams

Tomori on Tammy

I've known him for so long as we've kind of grown up together, playing in the same teams and age groups and all of that, so we've done a lot of stuff together.

It's been 16 years, so I know him like the back of my hand, I know everything!

Even away from football, he's a funny guy and he's like my brother.

He's funny, he's just dumb in that he does dumb stuff, but behind closed doors he's not as bad as you think and he’s controlled.

You see it in training, he's got that outgoing nature and he brings that vibe to training, that's just how he is.

Every single time he scores, I'm so happy for him. Obviously, he's always scored goals but being at this level and on this stage and doing it at the same time as me, it’s crazy.

When he made his England debut the other year and just seeing him on the pitch, I was like 'wow, Tammy's playing for England.'

I remember when we were younger and weren't playing for England at our age group, so to think back to then and now he's out on the pitch, it's crazy.

Tomori and Abraham went head-to-head against each other for Aston Villa and Derby County in last season's Championship play-off final at Wembley

The play-off final last season was tough though. I remember in the tunnel before the game, they were out already before us, I walked out and I've seen him and I knew if I looked at him for too long I was going to laugh. I knew I had to be serious.

He was playing up front and I'm defending, so we were next to each other the whole game and didn't say a word to each other, nothing.

It was serious but strange. I'm happy for him that they won, but was also disappointed because it was such a good year for us.

This season, as every game goes by, we're playing for Chelsea and then when we got the call up, wow, we're playing for England together.

It was a weird one when I got the call-up, you don't think about how you're going to react when you get called up but when the manager told me I was like, I didn't know to react.

I called my dad, he told me well done about the Lille game last night, and I just told him then that I was getting a call-up for England the next day.

He was like 'No? How do you know?' I told him the manager had told me and he was screaming on the phone.

Those are the kind of moments that you never forget.

You can watch a special edition of 'First Impressions' with both players on the official England YouTube channel later this week. Subscribe now to find out more.

By Nicholas Veevers Content Manager - FA Owned Channels