Aston Villa Set to Secure Tammy Abraham from Besiktas for £18m

Tammy Abraham has made the transition from Roma to Besiktas in July, and now Aston Villa is on the verge of finalizing an £18 million deal for the 28-year-old striker.

Abraham is anticipated to complete his transfer to Villa Park over the weekend after arriving in the UK.

The player has been a key target for manager Unai Emery, who is in search of additional attacking power to support Ollie Watkins, particularly following the recent sale of Donyell Malen to Roma last week.

Besiktas originally acquired the England international on loan from Roma last summer, with an obligation to purchase contingent on certain performance targets.

It is reported that Besiktas has activated their option to buy for approximately £12 million, which means Aston Villa will be responsible for paying the transfer fee to the Turkish club.

Additionally, reports from Turkey indicate that defender Yasin Ozcan, currently on loan at Anderlecht, may join Besiktas from Villa as part of the transfer agreement.

Roberto Olabe, Aston Villa’s president of football operations, traveled to Turkey to observe Abraham in action as Besiktas secured a 1-0 victory against Kayserispor on Monday.

Abraham joined Roma from Chelsea in August 2021 for a fee of £34 million and established himself as a regular under manager Jose Mourinho.

During his tenure, he made 120 appearances for Roma, playing a pivotal role in their success in winning the Conference League in the 2021-2022 season, where he scored nine goals in 13 appearances.

However, following Mourinho’s dismissal in January 2024, Abraham found himself lower in the pecking order and was subsequently loaned to AC Milan for the following season.

In his debut season, he made history by scoring 17 league goals, becoming the highest English scorer in a single Serie A campaign. Only David Platt (31) and Gerry Hitchens (58) surpassed Abraham’s impressive total of 29 goals in Serie A.

Additionally, Abraham had a successful loan spell at Aston Villa during the 2018-2019 season, netting 25 goals to help the team secure promotion back to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs.