Tammy Abraham has flown out of the blocks at AS Roma.

It always seemed strange that the England striker was essentially exiled from the Chelsea squad once Thomas Tuchel took over as manager, essentially forcing him into a summer move.

And while that might not seem like a colossal blow to the Blues now that Romelu Lukaku has returned to the squad, lest we forget the fantastic job that Abraham did over the last two seasons.

Abraham moves to AS Roma

Abraham finished the 2019/20 campaign as Chelsea's top goalscorer with 18 strikes and only Timo Werner could match the 12 goals that he notched last season despite barely playing under Tuchel.

As such, it should come as no surprise that Jose Mourinho's AS Roma coughed up £34 million for his services and that the 23-year-old has hit the ground running in the Italian capital.

Abraham earned himself a standing ovation from the Stadio Olimpico crowd with two assists on his debut against Fiorentina and bagged his first goal for the club with a glorious strike at Salernitana.

Abraham's lightning start in Italy

Granted, there are only so many conclusions that you can draw from two appearances, but it is already vastly apparent that Abraham is out to prove the doubters wrong in the 'Eternal City'.

And such has been Abraham's glorious impact under Mourinho that he is ranked amongst the best players in Europe so far this season, according to the data gurus over at WhoScored.com.

Using an abundance of data metrics, the statisticians award players from Europe's top league a match rating each time they play and those totals are gradually averaged out over the season.

Europe's top players so far

In other words, it's just about the most effective way of objectively comparing footballers and by their estimations, Abraham has been the fifth-best player from across the top five divisions thus far.

And just to put Abraham's lightning start into context, we've listed WhoScored's top 20 players, so be sure to check out the only four players who have made an even better impact down below:

20. Rodri (Manchester City) - 8.00

19. Mason Greenwood (Manchester United) - 8.01

18. Luis Alberto (Lazio) - 8.02

17. Conor Gallagher (Crystal Palace) - 8.09

16. Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma) - 8.10

15. Dimitri Payet (Marseille) - 8.11

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14. Idrissa Gueye (Paris Saint-Germain) - 8.15

13. Ciro Immobile (Lazio) - 8.15

12. Florian Kainz (FC Koln) - 8.17

11. Adama Traore (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 8.19

10. Filip Duričić (Sassuolo) - 8.22

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9. Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) - 8.25

8. Amine Gouiri (Nice) - 8.25

7. Jordan Veretout (AS Roma) - 8.25

6. Felipe Anderson (Lazio) - 8.30

5. Tammy Abraham (AS Roma) - 8.30

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4. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) - 8.43

3. Mattia Zaccagni (Hellas Verona) - 8.47

2. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) - 8.76

1. Michail Antonio (West Ham United) - 8.84

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Abraham in esteemed company

You know you're doing something right when your statistics have you rubbing shoulders with Mbappe, Lewandowski and Haaland.

Like we say, it's insanely early doors and we'll discover more about Abraham's potential in Italy against Serie A's biggest sides, but he could hardly have made a strong impact in just two games.

Besides, there's good reason to think that Chelsea could pull off a repeat of their Lukaku routine in a world where Abraham progressed into one of the most lethal centre-forwards on the continent.

After all, it's doubtful that Chelsea would have given Abraham a reported buy-back clause that activates in 2023 if they didn't think there was scope for him to prove them wrong for selling up.

However, if Abraham's only mission is to send a message to Tuchel that he can hold his own at Europe's highest level, then he's certainly started that undertaking with earnest, gusto and a goal.