Matt Maher: Tammy Abraham's return to Aston Villa has been nearly seven years in the making

Never has an idiom better captured the relationship between club and player than when it comes to Villa and Tammy Abraham.

After at least three previous failed attempts spanning a period of more than six-and-a-half years, Villa finally have their man.

It wasn’t easy. It has never been easy where Villa and Abraham have been concerned, going all the way back to when Steve Bruce first convinced the then 20-year-old to join on loan from Chelsea at the end of the 2018 summer transfer window.

Perhaps, in a parallel universe, Abraham signed permanently for £25million just as Villa hoped he would do 10 months later, after helping them win promotion back to the Premier League.

Then again, maybe in another universe, the striker swapped Villa for Wolves in January, 2019.

So realistic a possibility was the latter, normally reserved sources at Molineux were confidently briefing the deal was imminent as Nuno Espirito Santo sought back-up for Raul Jimenez.

But late uncertainty at Chelsea over the terms, coupled with an all-out lobbying effort from Villa which included head coach Dean Smith and assistant John Terry meeting with Abraham and his family, eventually convinced him to stay and score the goals to help win promotion and cement his place as one of the most significant players in the club’s recent history.