Sport
A Familiar Ground: Tammy Abraham Back at Aston Villa
When Tammy Abraham last wore the claret and blue of Aston Villa, he had the world at his feet.
It was the 2018-19 season and the striker was on loan from Chelsea, looking to enhance a burgeoning reputation by firing the Villans to promotion from the Championship.
The 21-year-old did just that, netting 25 times in 37 games as Villa beat Derby County in the play-off final at Wembley. Naturally, there were hopes he would stay on in the Midlands permanently, but Abraham always had his sights set on succeeding with Chelsea.
Ironically, it was the man he helped defeat for Villa, Frank Lampard, who would prove crucial to the next phase of his development.
Lampard left Derby and headed to Stamford Bridge, where he had been a hero as a player, and a transfer ban meant he had little choice but to trust in a group of academy products who were emerging, including Abraham.
He was the main striker, while Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, who worked with Lampard on loan at Derby, and Reece James were also given big opportunities.
Although only James still remains with the Blues, as current captain, the others have forged elite careers elsewhere.
Abraham’s stint as the main striker didn’t last too long, as Romelu Lukaku arrived in the post-Lampard era, but he headed for Roma for £34m in 2021 to work with Jose Mourinho.
With the Giallorossi, he initially thrived, helping Mourinho become the first coach to win all major UEFA club competitions with victory in the Conference League in 2022.
Abraham scored 27 goals in all competitions that season, including 17 in Serie A; it felt like a coming of age moment for a player waiting to explode at the highest level.
Chelsea had inserted a buyback clause in the deal, set at £68m, and it felt at that stage as though a return could be possible.
But everything changed in the summer of 2023. Abraham ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and that has hampered his progress ever since. A loan spell at AC Milan, reuniting him with Tomori and another ex-Chelsea youngster, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, didn’t work out, but he found form with another loan, this time at Besiktas.
That deal was made permanent just a day before his Villa return, giving the Turkish side a £5m profit; he cost them £13m, and Villa £18m.
Both club and player are in very different phases from their last stint together. Abraham arrives looking to keep the fire of an unlikely Premier League title challenge burning; Unai Emery’s side are currently third, four points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Abraham, though, is still looking to fully recapture the form he showed at Chelsea and latterly Roma.
He is confident success is in their collective futures.
“I feel like I left here as a boy and I’m definitely coming back as a man,” he told Villa’s website.
“I’d like to bring my experience to help the team as much as possible and achieve something with this club.
“I’ve played against most of the boys here, and I know a few of them also, so they’ve helped me settle in quickly.
“I just can’t wait to get out there on the pitch with them and make more memories.
“Right now, the world’s our oyster. We’ve got a good team, a good squad. I don’t think it’s out of reach to say we can push for every competition we’re in.
“I’m here and I want to win. I want to win trophies, so we have to push for every competition we’re in. I’m excited, I just can’t wait.”
Now 28, he arrives looking to support Ollie Watkins in attack, but having not made an international appearance since 2022, surely he must sense an outside opportunity to reach the World Cup with England. He knows Thomas Tuchel from his Chelsea days, and the position of understudy to Harry Kane is very much up for grabs.
Expectation should be low for this transfer, but the reward could be huge. Abraham knows where the goal is, and he has an outstanding record when fit.
Villa have used the January transfer window effectively under Emery before, doing so here could be a masterstroke for the club and getting a struggling player back on track.
