Aston Villa boss Dean Smith could sign the club's new Dion Dublin in Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham.

What's the story?

Reports in recent weeks have linked Dean Smith's side with a move for the £50k-a-week earning striker in this upcoming summer transfer window, and there has now been an update on the club's pursuit.

According to Football Insider, while Abraham is on the list of striking targets the club has, Smith is not actually fully convinced by the England international.

The report adds that "the manager does not regard Abraham as a top-quality finisher", while the £40m Chelsea are apparently demanding is also said to be likely out of reach for Villa.

Shades of Dublin

Standing at an imposing 6 foot 3, Abraham is an inch taller than Dublin, and just like the former Villa striker, is a real "handful" up front.

In fact, speaking after he watched him score against Swansea back in the Championship, Smith himself said: "Tammy is a handful and he knows better than me that he should have been walking away with the match ball tonight. But he scored the winning goal, he’s a hell of a talent. Tammy put in a hell of a shift up front on his own and proved he is a fine player."

Called the "real deal" by another former Villa boss in Tim Sherwood, Abraham's previous experience in working with Smith would likely see him hit the ground running at Villa Park, and he could bring the kind of physicality and power that Dublin brought to the table.

As per Sofascore, he is very much someone who does his best work in the penalty area given his heat-map, while he won an impressive 56% of his duels in the air last season in the Premier League - to put that in context, another Villa former player, Christian Benteke who's renowned for his heading, only won marginally more with 57%.

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Villa fans still have fond memories of Dublin's time at the club, and they could see real shades of the now 52-year-old in Abraham.

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