Tammy Abraham eyeing long-term Chelsea role as Swansea loanee prepares for possible England debut

Swansea City loanee and prospective England debutant Tammy Abraham insists his long-term goal remains to become a first-team squad regular for parent club Chelsea.

Mentioned as one of a number of talented young English age-group players that could be tempted into switching their international allegiance to Nigeria in a bid to play at the 2018 World Cup, Abraham looked to be on the verge of representing the Super Eagles after Nigerian Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick, a long-time friend of his father, declared in September that an agreement had been reached.

However, the London-born 20-year-old, who began his England career at Under-18 level and featured at this summer's European Under-21 Championship in Poland, quickly disputed those claims and could make his senior bow for the Three Lions during the upcoming international break after earning a maiden call-up for high-profile friendlies against Germany and Brazil at Wembley Stadium.

Abraham's first involvement with Gareth Southgate's squad came after he scored five goals in his first 13 Swansea appearances and showed promising early signs that he was capable of replicating his impressive form with previous loan club Bristol City at the highest level.

However, while the player may once again be flourishing as the result of more exposure to regular starting opportunities in South Wales, he still has his eye firmly fixed on becoming one of the few Chelsea youth graduates to forge a successful first-team career at Stamford Bridge.

"My main focus is Swansea but pushing on, my main target is to be in that Chelsea squad," Abraham told reporters at a press conference held at St. George's Park on Monday (6 November), per Sky Sports.

"It's not going to be easy, you look at the players that are there, but you have to keep pushing and keep working as hard as you can. I want to show the world what I'm truly made of."

Abraham, who joins fellow Chelsea loanee Ruben Loftus-Cheek and versatile Liverpool defender Joe Gomez as one of three uncapped players in the latest England squad and will be tasked with filling the void left by Daniel Sturridge's omission, was prolific for the Blues at youth level. He made his only two senior appearances for the club to date in 2016 at the end of Guus Hiddink's second interim spell in charge.

Abraham's promising displays for Swansea coupled with the constant uncertainty surrounding the future of first-choice forward Alvaro Morata's current understudy Michy Batshuayi has led to suggestions that Antonio Conte, who missed out on a deal for Fernando Llorente on summer deadline day, could be keen to recall him from his latest loan when the transfer window reopens for business in January.

However, it soon emerged that the only way that could happen would be if the former Newcastle United target failed to reached a minimum number of appearances during the first half of the season. Under-fire Swans boss Paul Clement is confident that figure will easily be eclipsed as he relies on Abraham to fire his underperforming side out of the relegation zone.