Aston Villa transfer saga reaches ‘sudden conclusion’ as Wolves ‘receive bid’ from third club

Aston Villa’s seemingly endless pursuit of AS Roma ace Tammy Abraham has come to an abrupt end after the striker appeared to suffer a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury on the final day of the Serie A season. Jose Mourinho’s side secured Europa League football with a 2-1 win over Spezia but Abraham was seriously hurt on Sunday.

Coming off the bench just after the hour mark to try and complete a dramatic comeback, the Englishman was forced back off on a stretcher just 16 minutes later. Roma did find their vital winner as Paolo Dybala netted from the penalty spot in added time but that didn’t end the concerns for Abraham.

The 25-year-old, who was Villa’s top scorer during the Championship promotion season in 2018-19, has been heavily linked with a return to Villa Park for a long while. Reports emerged last summer that Mourinho had lowered the importance of Abraham in his squad and his minutes have reduced since then.

Throughout the spring and into January the speculation continued, as Unai Emery was reported to be eager to sign Abraham to bolster his attacking options. As it happened, no move surfaced and Ollie Watkins had a tremendous end to the campaign, but even that didn’t stop the links from continuing.

Now, though, if Abraham is indeed confirmed to have injured his ACL, a transfer simply won’t be possible. The attacker would be out for at least six months with a potential for around a year on the sidelines, meaning a recovery certainly wouldn’t come in time for the summer deadline and perhaps not even the winter one.

Emery and his recruitment team will have to look elsewhere if they remain keen to add depth at striker, especially after missing out on signing Marco Asensio. Although not an outright number nine, the Spaniard is versatile and would’ve likely been a brilliant coup. He’s now set to join Paris Saint-Germain, however.

Meanwhile, Wolves ‘receive bid’ for player

In other West Midlands transfer news, Villa’s local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers have reportedly received a bid from Stoke City for defender Dion Sanderson. Football Insider claims the Potters have submitted an offer as they look to rival Birmingham City and Sunderland for the 23-year-old’s signature.

Both Blues and the Black Cats have previously been reported to hold an interest, with Birmingham going one step further by offering a three-figure sum to Wolves. Sanderson spent the entirety of last season on loan with John Eustace’s side and became a key player, building quite the rapport with the St Andrew’s faithful.

The campaign before also saw Sanderson with Blues on an initial six-month loan, though he has also played for Sunderland on a temporary basis in the past. Stoke would be a completely new challenge for the player but as it stands, no decision has been made by Wanderers nor Sanderson himself.