Official: Tammy Abraham joins Aston Villa on loan for the season

One of the most highly-rated prospects in the Chelsea youth pipeline, Tammy Abraham, has dropped back down to the Championship for this third senior loan spell. He will spend the season aiding Aston Villa’s efforts to secure an elusive promotion back to the Premier League.

Although a move to Villa may have come with playing-time guarantees and a sizable loan fee, it’s a sideways step at best for Tammy. Two seasons ago, in his first senior loan, he scored 26 goals in all competitions for Bristol City and earned a loan to Swansea City last summer. Newcastle and Brighton were in for the striker as well but Paul Clement’s connection with Chelsea ultimately won out, seeing Abraham move to Wales. In retrospect, perhaps one of the former two clubs would have suited him better.

Swansea were an absolute travesty, whether under Clement or subsequently Carlos Carvalhal. Abraham ended his campaign with 7 goals scored, only three less than the club’s top scorer that season, Jordan Ayew. While he may have gained some invaluable experience along the way, the move was detrimental to his momentum and to some extent, credentials as a goal-scorer at the top level. Whether that actually damaged his prospects of securing another Premier League loan, though, we’ll never know, as Abraham seemed set to stay at Chelsea until at least January. However, as Maurizio Sarri could give no guarantees to the youngster, a loan was deemed the best solution.

It could be argued that Bordeaux, who showed late interest, would’ve been a better destination for Tammy. The Ligue 1 club, albeit currently manager-less, play in a league of better quality and will participate in the Europa League as well. Nevertheless, for various reasons, possibly including family-motivated ones, Abraham has ended up at Villa and we can only wish him the best for hopefully another goal-filled season in the Championship.