Cardiff City: Neil Warnock will always wonder what-if from failed attempt to land ex-Bristol City favourite | OneFootball

Cardiff City and Neil Warnock may always wonder could've been, had they not failed in trying to sign then-Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham in 2018

Neil Warnock tried and ultimately failed to complete the loan signing of Tammy Abraham ahead of Cardiff City's 2018/19 Premier League crusade, and the Yorkshireman may always wonder what could've been - had he landed his "main man".

The EFL promotion specialist conducted one of his very finest miracles by steering Cardiff back to the promised land following a four-year hiatus and against all odds, with the Bluebirds having seldom been fancied for promotion against considerable competition from the likes of Fulham, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, all of whom had superior budgets and, on paper at least, playing squads reflective of that startling difference.

But there's no denying that the shock in which Cardiff were able to execute left them ill-equipped for top-flight football.

Financially, Cardiff were never going to compete and were forced to be resourceful and pragmatic instead of splashing the cash akin to the spending habits of newly-promoted counterparts in this day and age.

The loan market, then, was an avenue which Warnock had already explored the previous season and revisited during their squad surgery ahead of the dawn of the 2018/19 Premier League campaign.

Midfield duo Victor Camarasa and Harry Arter both joined on loan - and yielded contrasting degrees of success, it must be said - and Warnock also tried his hand for a temporary switch involving then-Chelsea frontman Tammy Abraham, but he fell short in his pursuits, was left "disappointed" at the time and may now be left with the perennial, nagging feeling of what-if.

Neil Warnock's admission on failed Chelsea, Tammy Abraham transfer

Recruiting a marquee striker was a crucial call of duty for Cardiff, who had lacked a goalscoring talisman in the season prior despite their promotion exploits.

Indeed, Callum Paterson, who was initially signed as a right-back from Hearts and missed the start of the campaign through injury, later finished as Cardiff's top scorer with 10 goals to his name from attacking midfield, though he did transition into a makeshift striker-of-sorts in the Premier League.

Kenneth Zohore's flame had already been extinguished by this point, mind you, and Gary Madine was hardly going to cut it in the top-flight after struggling in the half-season which followed his January 2018 move from Bolton Wanderers.

Meanwhile, Bobby De Cordova-Reid was signed from Bristol City and certainly appeared to represent an exciting acquisition after completing the 2017/18 season with a 19-goal haul in the Championship, but he was never the out-and-out, traditional marksman to go at the tip of the spear.

Though precociously talented, the Jamaica international always felt a much better fit sitting infront of the midfield, where the aforementioned Camarasa played ahead of him for much of the season.

Cumulatively, these considerations led Warnock to Tammy Abraham, whose stock had fallen somewhat at this point in time after a miserable season spent on loan just down the M4 with bitter rivals Swansea City.

The young striker, who shot to fame in the 2016/17 season by scoring 23 goals for Bristol City as a teenager, struggled to make the transition to Premier League football, albeit with a team who were relegated with just 33 points.

But Warnock wasn't deterred by Abraham's struggles in SA1. He declared that the then-Chelsea prospect, who was still just 20 years of age at the time of Cardiff's interest, would've been his "main man" in the Premier League, though he ultimately missed out on his services when Aston Villa completed a loan deal to bring Abraham back to the Championship.

The nature of the deal, whereby Warnock claims he received no contact informing him of the decision to send Abraham to Villa Park, left the iconic boss disappointed as he lamented Chelsea's lack of class.

Warnock told Standard Sport: "I wanted Tammy Abraham from day one. I spoke to Eddie Newton (Chelsea’s loan player technical coach) about it, but he ended up at Aston Villa.

"I was really disappointed they didn’t even come back to me. I thought I at least deserved a phone call saying ‘sorry Neil, he’s not joining’.

"It might have been because our deadline was three weeks before the Championship’s. Perhaps they weren’t sure at the time and then he ends up leaving at the end of the month, when only a move to a Championship club is possible. But even then, a phone call would have been better and shown a bit of class.

"Tammy would have been my main man in the Premier League - surely that would have been better for him? I don’t understand it. Surely they would want him playing in the Premier League?

"I don’t think it was a question over the size of the loan fee - we would have paid it. I just the felt the way we played, he would have enjoyed it and had an impact. I missed out on a few players waiting for him too, which disappointed me. But that’s life."

Neil Warnock, Cardiff City will always wonder 'What if?' with Tammy Abraham

Even though, for the most part, Abraham had looked sorely out of his depth at top-flight level with Swans, the general feeling around Cardiff was still one of frustration and disappointment.

They ultimately failed to address their goalscoring issues that summer and paid the price, as it was the crux of the on-field shortcomings which conclusively resulted in the immediate relegation back down to the Championship.

Not one player recorded more than five strikes in the league for Cardiff, who averaged just 0.9 goals per match and were relegated by a margin of just two points behind 17th-placed Brighton and Hove Albion.

Abraham, on the other hand, rediscovered his red-hot form infront of goal and finished the season with 26 to his name, a haul which still remains the best of his career in league action to this day.

Abraham helped the Villains to a Premier League return via the playoffs that year before heading back to Chelsea to make his mark. He scored 18 goals across all competitions in his first season as a regular at Stamford Bridge and then scored 12 the year after.

The 11-cap England international then moved onto Roma in the summer of 2021 and has scored 37 goals in 120 appearances for the Italian capital side, although he's currently on loan with AC Milan for the current campaign.

His fortunes have faced some form of turbulence over the last couple of years, it must be said, but Abraham has still carved out a hugely impressive career at club level and still has time on his side at the age of 27.

The unshakable, theoretical feeling of what-if is pertinent when it comes to his subsequent career path, of course, but it's particularly pressing when you consider the fact that the former Bristol City loan star scored for fun in the 2018/19 season while Cardiff struggled infront of goal to such a pronounced extent.

He would've certainly made a difference of sorts, then, and the longer-term ramifications of that could make you completely lost in thought.