OPINION
Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow should act like a moth to a flame when it comes to the club’s reported pursuit of Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham this summer by not giving up easily.
The Daily Mirror previously reported that Purslow was going to try to utilise his Chelsea contacts to sign Abraham on a permanent basis as the Villans had made him, Tyrone Mings and Axel Tuanzebe summer transfer targets.
The trio have all excelled on loan at the Villans in the 2018/19 campaign and all would be welcomed permanent additions regardless of what league the club find themselves in.
Abraham in particular has wowed as the club’s main source of goals as he is the Villan’s top goalscorer for the season (Source: BBC), by some distance, after scoring 26 goals.
However it may be difficult to sign the 21-year-old forward as according to The Sun Chelsea would reject any offer from the Villans for Abraham if their Fifa transfer ban remained.
As it stands the Blues won’t be able to sign any new players in the transfer market; and that has led to them being open to keeping Abraham at Stamford Bridge and potentially using him.
While Chelsea’s ban is likely to stay intact, with the right amount of arm twisting the Blues may risk letting Abraham go if the offer is too good to reject as it’s not like they have rated him before based on the fact he has made only three appearances for the senior side.
Also the Premier League club may find their hand forced if Abraham makes it clear he wants to be at Villa Park next season, as a wantaway player is no good, and that could end up being the case based on his latest remarks.
The 21-year-old revealed he had loved his loan spell at the Villans as the club was massive and he had grown up watching them.
Abraham also noted that the Dean Smith’s side felt like one big family, so why would he want to turn his back on that?
“I’ve grown up watching this club, it’s a massive club, so to come in here you can just see the togetherness in the team,” said Abraham on Sky Sports’ Play-Off Preview Show (Sky Sports Football, Friday May 24th, 19:31).
“Every since I stepped foot here, the fans have made me feel welcome, and they’ve done that with Tyrone as well, so it’s just a big family and we like it.”
So when you consider Abraham’s remarks, Purslow should keep going until he gets his man as the attacker’s remarks more than opens the door for a move to happen.