Amid Chelsea’s talks to sign Jhon Duran, Aston Villa have leapfrogged Tottenham Hotspur and are now the best-placed club to bring Tammy Abraham back to the Premier League, according to reports.
Duran joined Aston Villa in January 2023 when they paid Chicago Fire £18million to sign him. As the Colombian is only 20 years old, he had been viewed as a long-term project at Villa Park, but after eight goals in 49 appearances he could soon leave.
Despite Duran’s relative lack of experience at the top level, sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk that Chelsea are closing in on a £40m deal for him. Enzo Maresca’s side have already finalised personal terms with Duran, too.
His departure will force Villa to enter the market for a new centre-forward who can provide competition and cover for Ollie Watkins.
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On June 6, TEAMtalk exclusively revealed that Abraham will be put up for sale by Roma this summer, with the former Chelsea ace hoping to return to England.
Tottenham and West Ham United were some of the first clubs to be linked with him. Villa have since joined the hunt for Abraham, though.
According to the latest reports in Italy, Unai Emery’s side have moved into pole position for the Englishman.
Villa president of football operations Monchi is expected to use the money received from Duran’s sale to launch an ‘assault’ and sign Abraham.
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The 26-year-old, who has netted 162 club career goals in 385 matches, is ‘close’ to returning to the Prem and the ‘hottest’ interest is coming from Villa Park.
Should Monchi forge an agreement with Roma, then it should not take long for personal terms to be agreed with the player himself.
Abraham has ‘great memories’ from his loan spell with Villa in the 2018-19 campaign, when he scored 26 goals in 40 appearances to help the West Midlands side go up via the play-offs.
Signing Abraham would give Emery two great options up front, as he can already rely on Watkins. Although, it remains to be seen whether Abraham would be happy to act as a backup.
After all, Watkins had a fantastic campaign in 2023-24 and finished the season with 27 strikes in 53 outings.