A host of premier league clubs are interested in signing Tammy Abraham providing Chelsea cancel his successful loan spell at Aston Villa, the Daily Mail understands. Wolves, Huddersfield, Burnley and Crystal Palace are all looking for a new striker in the January transfer window and after 16 goals in 20 appearances, Abraham looks to be highly sought after.
The 21-year-old English striker has had a prolific season so far with Aston Villa after a mixed season at Swansea last year, which saw them get relegated to the Championship. Yet, this season he has been clinical scoring not only in his home debut for Villa but scoring 4 goals in a thrilling 5-5 draw with Nottingham forest back in November.
Abraham has attracted a lot of interest as he has a broad set of attributes, scoring freely with his head, both feet and from penalties. As a youth product of Chelsea’s academy, it seems he is finally beginning to fulfil the potential that saw him labelled as the “brightest spark” among Chelsea’s loan stars.
For Huddersfield, Burnley and Crystal Palace it is essential to make the most of this January transfer window in order to lift them out of the precarious positions they all find themselves in and Abraham could be their answer. However, reports have emerged that Wolves have shown the most interest so far.
Despite Wolves’ excellent start to the season, they have bid £18 million for Abraham according to the Sun. Their current star striker Raul Jimenez is only on loan from Benfica and therefore Wolves are interested in a more permanent deal for a striker in order to organise their attacking force for the long term.
However, to complicate the potential transfer further, there is a possibility that FIFA restrictions could prevent Wolves signing Abraham, according to the Evening Standard. If the community shield game or under-23 appearance at the beginning of the season, where Abraham played for Chelsea, are counted as official matches it would render any move away from Chelsea to Wolves useless. Article 5.3 of FIFA regulations state that although a player can register for three different clubs, the player cannot play official matches for three different football clubs in a single season.
One only has to look back to the January transfer window in 2015 when Hatem Ben Arfa suffered the same predicament. After being signed by Nice, Ben Arfa could not play officially for them as he appeared eight times on loan at Hull but crucially he played for Newcastle under-21s earlier that season too.
Providing these regulations come into play once more, it seems Abraham’s opportunities are narrowed to what previously looked like a myriad of choices. Either Maurizio Sarri gambles on Abraham and plays him instead of the far from prolific Giroud and Morata or the young Englishman stays put at Villa to continue his fine form. The latter would presumably give Abraham a lot of thinking to do over the summer, particularly if Villa get promoted as it may tempt Abraham to stay for another season at Villa Park. Yet, it would not be surprising if the former comes to fruition and Chelsea recall him in 2019 where the Premier League, FA Cup, and Europa league games come thick and fast for Chelsea.
