Aston Villa are in a period of success with Unai Emery, as the Villans continue to undergo a positive transformation following the Spaniard’s arrival in October 2022.
The Midlands side were in a rut at the point of his move back to the Premier League, with the team he inherited from Steven Gerrard sitting in 16th place.
Last season, the Villans recorded their highest league finish since their promotion from the Championship in 2019 under Dean Smith, as a new wave of stars continue to emerge under Emery’s guidance.
Smith’s promoted squad included some of the stars on show today, however the inspiration behind the push to reach the top-flight was Tammy Abraham, who was reportedly close to rejoining the club this summer.
How many goals did Tammy Abraham score for Aston Villa?
A product of Chelsea’s academy, Abraham was captured on a season-long loan from the Blues in the 2018/19 season as Smith weighed up his options to assist his side in the mission to gain promotion.
The Englishman made the impact that was expected of him during his time donning claret and blue, scoring 25 Championship goals in 37 appearances, as well as claiming an important goal in the play-offs to mark himself as the club's top scorer that year.
It was painful to see the striker leave Villa Park, however it was always in the plans for him to return to his boyhood club to continue the chapter at Stamford Bridge after graduating from Cobham.
After returning to west London, the forward continued his scoring streak in the top-flight, netting 15 goals in the Premier League for the Blues in the 2019/20 season, marking his highest tally in the league.
The following year, the 1997-born whiz lived his childhood dream in securing a Champions League winners medal with Chelsea, however away from the high of the silverware, his form had significantly declined from the season before.
Abraham scored just six times in the league that term, marking his final contribution to goals for the west Londoners, as he embarked on a new journey in Rome.
Like his introduction to life with Villa, and his first established season with Chelsea, the Englishman thrived in his debut Serie A campaign at Roma, scoring 17 times in the league and netting nine in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
History seemed to repeat itself as his second term with Jose Mourinho’s side, where his numbers fell off dramatically, where he found himself on the score sheet just eight times last season, inducing suggestions that he could be on the move in the summer.
Why didn’t Aston Villa sign Tammy Abraham this summer?
Lauded as “superb” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, the 25-year-old was linked with a move to Villa this summer, in what was poised to be a highly-celebrated return to the Midlands and England for the forward.
A report relayed by the Daily Mail courtesy of Italian journalist Ilario Di Giovambattista told that Villa were further than just holding an interest in their former loan star.
In an interview on Italian radio station RadioRadio, Di Giovambattista claimed that “Roma had already sold” the striker to Villa for a fee of €30m (£26m) before the end of the season and prior to the opening of the transfer window.
He added that the deal was “already closed”, however all ideas fell apart as the Englishman sustained a horrific ACL injury on the final day of the Serie A campaign, which he continues to recover from.
Villa could have added more memories of Abraham by bringing him back to Villa Park, in a move that could have seen him flourish under the valuable guidance of Emery.
