Aston Villa would have to break their transfer record to sign Tammy Abraham from Chelsea — report

Tammy Abraham says he’s ready and willing to return to Chelsea and give it his all, but he also didn’t rule out other possibilities dropping the usual “never know what could happen” line as well when asked about his future following the Championship Playoff final.

Not that the rumor mill would really care about what a player might say, especially as Aston Villa probably wouldn’t say no to their leading goalscorer staying for another season. In fact, Villa CEO Christian Purslow, formerly himself of Chelsea, was apparently seen trying to convince Abraham to do so immediately after they secured promotion to the Premier League last Monday.

According to recent reports however, including from the Telegraph a few weeks ago and from the Mirror yesterday, if Abraham is to stay at Villa, it would only happen as a permanent move. The price they’d need to pay would be £25m, which would break their club record purchase of Darren Bent for £18m (with £6m in potential bonuses) back in 2011.

Even for that much, it would be quite unwise to cash in on the 21-year-old, who still has three years left on his Chelsea contract. Assuming Higuaín doesn’t stay but the transfer ban does, Abraham should have a prime opportunity to grab the Chelsea job with both hands next season.