Chelsea will not recall five-goal striker in January

Paul Clement is adamant that Chelsea will not recall Tammy Abraham from his loan deal at Swansea.

Abraham’s five goals in 10 Swansea games – four of them coming in the Premier League – has led to speculation that the champions will recall their England Under-21 striker to join them for the second half of the season.

Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has suggested that his old club have made a mistake by sending Abraham out on loan. And so did we.

And former England striker Ian Wright claimed that he would prefer the 20-year-old Londoner to Belgium international Michy Batshuayi in the Blues’ line-up.

Swansea head coach Clement has confirmed there is a recall clause in Abraham’s season-long loan deal at the Liberty Stadium.

But he added Abraham is “well on course” to meet the set number of games that Chelsea and Swansea agreed upon for him to spend the entire campaign in south Wales.

“There is a stipulation in place that if he does not meet a certain amount of games, a proportion of games by the halfway stage, he can be recalled,” Clement said ahead of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Leicester.

“That is a normal thing to have on a season-long loan in place to protect the player, to make sure he’s getting the right amount of game time.

“But if we were bringing in a player of his ability then I felt he was coming here to play.

“As we stand there is no reason to think he would not meet that criteria.

“He’s well on course for that and he’ll be here for the year.

“The only way they can recall him is if he is sat on the bench for the remaining games. But the way he’s playing I can’t see that happening.”

Clement also promised that on-loan Bayern Munich midfielder Renato Sanches would be staying at Swansea for the rest of the season.

Portugal international Sanches has had a mixed time at Swansea with injuries restricting him to only three Premier League starts so far.

But Clement said: “There is no figure (of games) in place for Renato, it is very much based on me bringing him here because I want him to play.

“Bayern understand that, but they also understand that he has to merit his place. It’s a good situation.”

Sanches is set to return against Leicester after missing the 2-0 victory over Huddersfield with a thigh problem.

But striker Wilfried Bony will miss out again with a hamstring injury.

“It is not a serious injury, it is short term,” Clement said.

“But Wilf has not played regularly for a couple of years and his body is a little bit behind where his mind is.

“We have to get the two up to speed as quickly as possible.”