Tammy Abraham is back in the Premier League, sealing a permanent move to Aston Villa. What can the former Chelsea and Roma striker offer Unai Emery’s title chasers?
Tammy Abraham is back at Aston Villa, and it’s no wonder the fans are pleased to see him.
The 2018-19 season was Villa’s third consecutive campaign in the Championship, and in the previous season, only two players had hit double figures for goals or the club; Albert Adomah (14) and Conor Hourihane (11).
They needed a goalscorer and were able to secure Abraham on loan from Chelsea. He had scored 23 goals in the Championship for Bristol City two years earlier, and Villa hoped he could fire them back to the Premier League.
In a team that included John McGinn and Jack Grealish, Abraham flourished, scoring 25 times in 37 games as Villa reached the play-offs. He also scored the winning penalty in the semi-final shootout against West Brom to take Villa to Wembley, where they beat Derby County in the final to get back to the big time.
As you can see from his goal map that season, he was quite the penalty-box striker. All 26 of his goals came from within 15 yards of goal.
Abraham also returned to the top flight, finally trusted by Chelsea to make an impact at his parent club, which he did.
There were some doubts about whether he could score regularly in the Premier League after an underwhelming loan at Swansea City in 2017-18, where he managed just five goals in 31 top-flight appearances.
However, in a stronger Chelsea side under the guidance of Frank Lampard, Abraham stepped up, scoring 15 Premier League goals, and managing 18 in 47 games in all competitions in 2019-20.
Another 12 goals in 32 games followed in 2020-21, but the writing appeared to be on the wall once Lampard was replaced by Thomas Tuchel in January 2021. The German only gave Abraham seven more appearances before the end of that season, and he was left out of the squad for the Champions League final win against Manchester City entirely.
He took the opportunity to move abroad, joining Roma in the summer of 2021, and it proved to be an excellent decision. Under former Chelsea boss José Mourinho, Abraham thrived in the Italian capital, scoring 27 goals in all competitions in his debut season, including 17 in Serie A; only Ciro Immobile (27), Dusan Vlahovic (24) and Lautaro Martínez (21) scored more.
He also led the league for non-penalty expected goals (xG) that season, with 18.4, ahead of Martínez (16.9) and Edin Dzeko (14.8).
Abraham won the fans in Rome over; only Rodolfo Volk (21) way back in 1929-30 had ever scored more goals in their first season in Serie A with Roma than him.
He also helped Roma to win the inaugural Conference League that year, scoring nine times in 13 games in the competition.
As well as his goals, one notable attribute Abraham had initially shown in Rome was his availability, playing all but one league match across his first two seasons there. However, in the final game of the 2022-23 campaign, he tore his ACL. That kept him out for over 10 months, meaning he only played eight league games the following season.
By the time he came back from injury, Mourinho had gone, replaced by club legend Daniele De Rossi, and after Roma signed striker Artem Dovbyk from Girona, it appeared as though Abraham wasn’t their main man up front anymore.
A loan to Milan was arranged, where he joined up with former Chelsea teammates Fikayo Tomori, Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Abraham recorded 10 goals and six assists in 44 games for the Rossoneri, which included a brace against Roma in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals as he helped eliminate his parent club.
Abraham scored 29 times in Serie A in total for Roma and Milan, ranking behind only Gerald Hitchens (59) and David Platt (31) for the most goals by an Englishman in Italy’s top flight.
He spent the first half of this season on loan in Turkey with Besiktas, where he scored a respectable 13 goals in 26 games, including seven in 18 Süper Lig games.
The 28-year-old is back on English shores now, though, with Villa securing a permanent deal for a reported £18 million fee, seven years after his goals helped get them back to the Premier League.
Effectively, Abraham is the direct replacement for Donyell Malen, who, coincidentally (or perhaps not), joined Roma on loan earlier this month.
It seems Unai Emery wanted another striker option similar to Ollie Watkins; more of an orthodox number nine, whereas Malen was often used as a wide forward or second striker.
Looking at their numbers this season, you can see why Villa may feel Abraham can replicate Watkins’ output. He has averaged 28.0 touches per 90 compared to Watkins’ 29.1, five touches in the opposition box to Watkins’ 6.1, 2.3 shots compared to Watkins’ 2.5, and their non-penalty goals per 90 are practically identical (Abrahams 0.48, Watkins 0.47).
Of course, you could argue that the Premier League is a tougher proposition than the Turkish Süper Lig, so let’s also look at his final season in Serie A.
Last season for Milan, Abraham averaged 30.5 touches per 90, 4.8 in the opposition box, 2.2 shots, and 0.42 non-pen xG. Watkins averaged 27.0 touches per 90, 6.3 in the opposition box, 2.9 shots and 0.48 non-pen xG.
One area where Watkins and Abraham do differ, though, is their movement off the ball. Watkins frequently runs in behind when Villa have the ball, offering a forward pass and trying to stretch opposition defences. No player has made more runs in behind when his team has been in possession than Watkins in the Premier League this season (286).
Comparatively, Abraham only made 92 runs in behind at Besiktas, with 22 players making more in the Turkish top flight.
You can see from their respective heat maps below that Abraham had more of his touches in central positions this season, especially staying central in the final third, whereas Watkins has received more of the ball in wider areas. That could potentially offer Emery the opportunity to utilise both of them together, especially when Villa are chasing a goal.
You feel having a focal point like Abraham would have been immensely useful for them in the recent 1-0 home defeat to Everton, for example.
Emery will be glad to have an alternative option for Watkins as his team look to continue their excellent form in the Premier League, while there are also the Europa League knockout stages to come after Villa secured a top-eight finish in the league phase, and they remain in the FA Cup.
Watkins has not been the lock-and-loaded, guaranteed starter for Villa this season that he has been in campaigns past, but he’s still featured in 32 games in all competitions in 2025-26. That’s tied with Morgan Rogers for the most appearances of any Villa player. There’s every chance he needs to be rotated for the run-in.
As for Abraham, he will not only want to remind fans in England of his abilities now that he’s back, he may also hold out hope of making a case to get into the England squad for the World Cup.
However, to do so he will have the notable hurdle of winning over the man who was ultimately the reason he left the Premier League in the first place, Thomas Tuchel.
In August 2021, just prior to his move from Chelsea to Roma, Tuchel said of Abraham: “He was clearly not happy with the last half a year and maybe he has reason also not to be happy and maybe it was also my fault not to push him, not to trust him on the same level I maybe trusted other players.”
The current Three Lions boss may not have entirely trusted Abraham then, but if his former player can produce anything like the form he showed first time round at Villa, he will give Tuchel something to think about.
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Tammy Abraham to Aston Villa: The Perfect Alternative to Ollie Watkins? Opta Analyst.
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