Aston Villa bid ‘not imminent’ for Tammy Abraham — report

Aston Villa’s “imminent” £40m bid for Tammy Abraham appears to have been a figment of the Mirror’s imagination, as not only has it not arrived, it looks like it won’t be arriving anytime soon, if ever. As per the Athletic, Aston Villa are “not interested” in spending big on yet another striker, and a club-record bid is certainly out of the question.

That may not completely rule out a lower bid of course, but Villa are said to be focused on signing another attacking midfielder even after spending a club record amount on Emiliano Buendía a few weeks ago. Villa’s thinking appears to be to bolster the squad’s creativity (and/or make up for the potential loss of Jack Grealish) and let Ollie Watkins and Wesley Moraes, who missed practically all of last season while recovering from a torn ACL, take care of the finishing. It’s probably not the worst plan.

As far as Abraham, no one seems to be biting at Chelsea’s £40m asking price. So we either have to lower the price or endear him to Thomas Tuchel somehow.