OPINION
Tammy Abraham could be on his way out of Aston Villa if a recent report in the Sun is true.
They claim that Chelsea have accepted an £18m offer for the striker from Wolves and that he’ll be recalled ahead of his move to Molineux.
Sky Sports claim talk of the offer being accepted are “premature” but they say that Wolves are in talks with Chelsea over a move.
If it does go through it will be a massive blow to Aston Villa and highlights the perils of relying on loan players.
Abraham has scored 16 goals in 20 games this season and 12 in the last ten and that’s given fans hope that they can push for another play-off place this season.
If he does go, Dean Smith will have to find a replacement in January or risk his season imploding. Thankfully there are a couple of very good options.
Sky Sports have claimed that Bournemouth are willing to let Jermain Defoe go in January. He could still do a good job in the Championship.
However, he would cost a lot of money and there’s a better option currently banging them in in the Championship who Smith knows very well.
The 22-year-old French striker Neal Maupay has scored 15 goals in 23 Championship games for Brentford and added six assists.
That’s on a par with Abraham and Maupay should have arguably more chances in a quality Villa side.
Brentford would want a big fee for their star man but it should be too much for Villa and his wages would certainly be a lot cheaper than Defoe’s.
At 22, Maupay is one for the future and he’s already being eyed up by Huddersfield and other Premier League sides. If they did get promoted, Maupay would be a player who would relish the move up to the top-flight. Defoe would be very much a short-term option.
Smith knows Maupay well from his Brentford days and the striker has already opened himself up to a Villa Park move saying that if Dean Smith came calling, “I would consider it”.
If Abraham does go, Villa must make sure they replace like for like and get Maupay in to keep their faint hopes of promotion alive.