GARETH SOUTHGATE turned down the chance to watch Manchester United vs Arsenal to fly to Italy for Roma’s trip to Udinese.
The England gaffer was in the stands to watch Tammy Abraham in action for Jose Mourinho’s side.
Although the 24-year-old fired a blank as Mourinho and Co were thrashed 4-0.
Abraham’s one chance in the match came in the first-half, but the former Chelsea man lashed over when the ball dropped to him in the box.
There was some concern for him after the break when he went down holding his shoulder after slipping in the box on 70 minutes.
He played on after being patched up by the Roma doctors, but was then replaced with 13 minutes left of the game.
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Southgate may have also had an eye on ex-Manchester United man Chris Smalling, who played 90 minutes for the visitors.
It was a night to forget for Abraham and Roma though as the Three Lions gaffer saw them dismantled by Udinese at the Stadio Friuli.
Destiny Udogie, who joined from Tottenham this summer in an £18million deal before being loaned back to Udinese, opened the scoring for the hosts.
Rui Patricio had a night to forget between the sticks for Roma, with the former Wolves stopper letting Lazar Samardzic’s long-range strike go right through him for the second goal.
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Ex-Watford man Roberto Pereyra then added a third, before Sandi Lovric completed the rout in the 82nd minute.
Abraham has scored just once in five games for Roma this season.
He has struggled to hit the ground running in his second season for the club after bagging 27 times in all competitions last term.
Southgate has just two games left before England kick off their World Cup campaign in November.
He is currently preparing for the Nations League clashes against Italy and Germany at the end of this month.
And Abraham has Brentford striker Ivan Toney behind him knocking on the door for a call-up after his hat-trick in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Leeds.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
