In news that many Aston Villa fans were no doubt fearing, it appears that local rivals Wolves are going to plunder them for Tammy Abraham according to Alan Nixon writing in The Sun.
Nixon says that the 16-goal, on-loan Chelsea starlet is “set to end Aston Villa loan” and instead head to Villa’s bitter rivals Wolves on a permanent deal.
In fact, Nixon states, despite a Chelsea denial, that a deal has been agreed between them and Wolves. He also says that Wolves hope to finalise things and “negotiate personal terms before the weekend.”
This by Nixon comes on the back of an article by his colleague Mike McGrath that we covered here on The 72 yesterday. In his article, McGrath said that Abraham was asking Chelsea to “activate a recall option” in his temporary deal at Aston Villa so that he can “pursue a loan move at a Premier League club for the second half of the season.”
Nixon’s story ramps that news up more than a level. Abraham has been a massive part of Villa’s success this campaign, his moving to Wolves would definitely be a tremor felt at Villa Park.
A gaping hole would be left at Aston Villa should this deal go through. The young England striker has scored 16 goals for The Villans. This total includes FOUR goals in a 5-5 draw against Nottingham Forest in late-November.
Losing Abraham, and his goal threat, would severely dent Aston Villa’s hopes of progressing from their current 10th spot in the league. Dean Smith’s side sit five points shy of the play-offs, a large part of this down to Abraham’s contribution.
However, not everyone is of the opinion that a fee has been agreed and that negotiations are on the way.
Chelsea have NOT accepted a bid from Wolves for Tammy Abraham. Together with the player they will assess whether or not he stays at Villa for the remainder of the season or goes elsewhere. No decision taken yet.
— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) January 2, 2019
Been told #cfc have received no bids for #Abraham and he won’t be sold this month https://t.co/dQIoMkkNXZ with all loans, there is a possibility club will reconsider where he’s at right now (#avfc) and perhaps loan him to PL club…but no guarantee on that.
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) January 2, 2019
Whatever the situation is, and it certainly doesn’t seem clear, it is likely a situation that will play out sooner in the January window rather than later.