Aston Villa have not been shy when it comes to spending money on bringing players to the club in an effort to improve the team and push them towards achieving the owners' ambitions of securing European football.

However, one player that the club missed out on signing that the Villans could now be having nightmares over is former loan star Tammy Abraham.

During his loan spell from his former club Chelsea during the 2018/19 season, the striker managed to score 26 goals in 40 appearances, making him a big part of their promotion campaign back to the Premier League.

Having not been able to secure the Englishman on a permanent basis despite being linked with a move for him, Villa eventually turned their attention to Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings, who have cost the club a combined total of £53m and have scored 12 league goals between them this season.

Since his successful loan period at Villa Park, Abraham spent the next two campaigns back at Chelsea where he racked up 30 goals in 79 games across all competitions before making a permanent transfer move to Italian club AS Roma in a deal worth a reported fee of £34m.

During his time in Italy with Jose Mourinho's team, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £34.2m according to Transfermarkt, has scored 20 times in 36 appearances, showing that it didn't take him long to settle into a club and league outside of England.

In addition to his consistent goals with Roma, the former Chelsea star's overall performances have shown what a great signing he's been for the Serie A side, with WhoScored listing him as the club's second-highest rated player with an overall rating of 7.26, which would also make him Villa's second-highest rated player this season behind Philippe Coutinho.

Labelled as an "unbelievable" player in the past by former Villa captain Jack Grealish, Abraham could have been a fantastic deal for NSWE to make based on his previous experience of playing at the club as well as his clear knack for scoring goals. Certainly, it would have made the Villans' 2019/20 season a lot more comfortable in terms of dodging relegation had they signed him permanently after his loan.

Taking all of this into account, even though they now have Watkins and Ings at their disposal, Steven Gerrard's side could be in much better shape now had they have secured the Roma striker's signature when they had the chance.

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