With Tammy Abraham’s loan now over, I thought I would ask Merlin from Vital Chelsea his opinion on whether Aston Villa might be able to sign him on a permanent deal, as some newspapers have suggested. The Telegraph for example suggest we are set to bid £25million for the striker.
Tammy Abraham Forum Thread – click here..
Merlin said:
Following a season whereby he plundered 26 goals and more than played his part in Aston Villa gaining promotion, through the Play-Off Final, would it really be a surprise if the Midlands club wanted to hang on to Tammy Abraham, either via another loan spell or a permanent deal?
And followed that question with:
But what are the chances of that happening?
I’d hope they were pretty slim, what with Chelsea, unless they can persuade the authorities they’re not worthy of a two-window transfer ban, having to make do with what strikers we have. And, on the surface, they’re something of a motley crew if I were, to be honest.
Alvaro Morata, although a Chelsea player, will remain on loan at Atletico Madrid. Gonzalo Higuain, after showing during his spell with us that age does catch up with some quicker than others, returning from whence he came which leaves Chelsea with just Olivier Giroud plus the returning from loan duo of Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham.
Although both are internationals, Batshuayi for Belgium and Abraham for England, I’m not sure that either would be certain to be guaranteed a place in the first team next season. That honour will, I believe go to Giroud, although whether the Frenchman will be able to cope with what will be 2 games a week, once we get embroiled in the Champions League and the domestic cup competitions, is highly doubtful, because physical limitations will be sure to kick in.
Which I think would seem to point to the possibility that Batshuayi and Abraham could, at times, be given more than a fair chance to shine.
My personal preference would be to see Abraham given a chance to prove he can be as prolific a goal-scorer in the Premier League, as he was in the Championship. As you will no doubt know, he had two prolific seasons in the Championship, firstly with Bristol City and then with Aston Villa, with an ill-fated spell at Swansea City, sandwiched in between. That has allowed Abraham to develop his game, I would imagine to our benefit this coming season.
Some may say that his failure to score in abundance, whilst at Swansea, cast doubts on whether he is capable of 20+ goals in a Premier League season, I’d point out that anybody, in what was a poor Swansea side, would struggle to have a prolific season goal-wise.
So, after wittering on for so long, do I believe that there’s a chance Abraham could be scoring at Villa Park next season?
Well, let’s put it this way, he could but if he does it will, in my honest opinion, be in a Chelsea shirt. That is unless, as I mentioned earlier, Chelsea get a result when it comes to the two-window transfer ban from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it will be all hands to the pump and making use of the limited striking resources we have.
But things might have been so different if Villa had of actively pursued a permanent deal last summer, who knows what might have happened before all our sins became public knowledge and our spend, spend, spend philosophy was cruelly halted.
Perhaps, I could end with pointing out that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all!
Merlin
Thanks to Merlin for his time there. It does appear Tammy posted a fond farewell to Aston Villa on his Instagram account:
Hey ho, plenty more fish in the sea, or strikers on the pitch in this case. We are still being linked with all and sundry, as you can see in our transfer thread in the 100% Villa forum.
