Given how sparingly Abraham has been used, the decision to ship out Malen looks to have been a serious error.
I'm not sure how Malen's story has been twisted into us "deciding to ship him out". Unai was happy with him, and wanted him to stay, but Malen wasn't happy with his lack of pitch time and wanted to play more to cement his World Cup place (which I completely understand). We acquiesced and agreed to let him go.
If it were up to us only, and Malen hadn't asked for a move, I have no doubt Malen is still a Villa player today.