Tammy Abraham completes Aston Villa transfer as deal agreed after breakthrough in talks

Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham.

The England international joins in a deal worth £18million plus add-ons after parent club Roma agreed on an overall package with Besiktas – where Abraham has been on loan this season.

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Unai Emery’s side are still fighting for three trophies, having beaten Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup third round and are going well in the Europa League.

They are third in the Premier League, level on points with second place Man City, and seven off leaders Arsenal after 23 games.

Villa, who have prioritised a supporting striker for Ollie Watkins, had explored a move for wantaway Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.

There were concerned Besiktas could complicate the deal for Abraham, given their loan agreement contained an obligation to buy for £11m if certain conditions were met.

It has also been suggested Villa defender Yasin Ozcan is part of the deal as a makeweight.

Abraham, who has 12 goals in 24 appearances this season, spent the 2018/19 campaign at Villa Park on loan from Chelsea.

He netted 26 goals in 40 games as the club were promoted from the Championship under Dean Smith, beating Derby County in the play-off final.

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This is one that should go down relatively well with the Villa fan base, even though they’ve gone for a slightly older option.

It gives Villa another possibility, both in terms of competition, and also to alleviate the burden on Watkins.

This was a really complicated deal, because Abraham went to Besiktas in Turkey from Roma, on a loan with a conditional obligation, and Besiktas argue, perhaps rightly, legally, that they have met the conditions for the obligation.

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So even though usually you would pay that money at the end of the season, you would know the transfer was happening.

Besiktas have always considered, since the turn of the year, Abraham their player, not a Roma one.

So, Villa were exploring all kinds of different options, such as, can we terminate the loan, or do we have to pay Besiktas a fee, and it was complicated.

They made multiple trips to Turkey, and it looks like Besiktas have given Roma the £11m obligation to buy, and then Villa will give Besiktas somewhere in the region of £18m, plus add-ons, and there’s even talk that a player may be part of this deal as well.