Tammy Abraham receives Bristol City’s top awards and appreciation for securing survival

Tammy Abraham concluded his loan at Bristol City by receiving the club’s player of the year and young player of the year awards. The fans will always appreciate him almost single-handedly keeping the Robins in the Championship.

Tammy Abraham will always receive the hero’s welcome at Bristol City, despite having never been a permanent member of the club. Abraham’s loan with the Robins – his first full year of senior football – will go down as one of the most accomplished and impactful loan spells in the game.

Abraham scored 26 goals in 48 games to earn the player of the year and young player of the year awards. Most significantly for the club, he stood alone between the Robins and League One.

All the banter about Diego Costa’s importance to Chelsea would more appropriately befit Tammy Abraham. Costa has scored 19 of Chelsea’s 72 goals – just over 25%. Abraham’s 23 league goals account for 38% of Bristol City’s total. More importantly, the Costa banter implies that Chelsea would have nothing without him.

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Statements of Costa’s goal impact presuppose that Chelsea could not replace him with similar quality (they could). Or that Chelsea do not have backup strikers (they do). Or that Chelsea could not alter their tactical system to work around his absence (false nine, anyone?).

Each of those statements apply to Bristol City. The Robins could scarcely afford a talent like Tammy Abraham on a permanent transfer, assuming they could lure one to the Championship. Like Chelsea’s £32 million bargain for N’Golo Kante, Bristol City received much more than they paid for.

While Chelsea have Eden Hazard with 15 Premier League goals and Pedro and Willian with eight and seven, respectively, Bristol City have no such depth. Their second-highest scorer, Lee Tomlin, has six league goals. At one point, Abraham had more goals in the EFL Cup than any of his teammates had in the Championship.

Early in the season, Bristol City were vying for promotion to the Premier League. A prolonged slump to open 2017 sent their towards the relegation zone, instead. Tammy Abraham’s early production looked like it might take the Robins up. By the end, though, it prevented them from going down.

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Abraham is a long-shot for Chelsea’s squad next season. He will likely spend another year developing tactically and physically on loan in the Premier League or on the continent. Another season at Bristol City would not help his development, but could end up with the Robins naming a stand for him at Ashton Gate.