Juan Pablo Angel was a hero at Aston Villa during the noughties.
With his flair, stylish hairband, good looks and goalscoring ability, he lit up the Premier League stage on several occasions and was very popular during his time in B6.
As Tim Vickery mentioned, Aston Villa are ‘well known in Colombia’ because of the time Angel spent there – he is still the top-scoring Colombian in Premier League history with 44 goals.
But now there seems to be a new kid on the block, Aston Villa’s latest all-action star Jhon Duran, who has taken the Premier League by storm this season.
Even though the 20-year-old has started just one match – League Cup against Wycombe – he has scored five winning goals this season in all competitions.
Duran’s winning goal against Bayern Munich will go down in legend and it’s the moment that signified the club’s proper return back to the big time.
South American expert Vickery has explained how talent in Colombia can be ‘frustrating’ and there is hope around Duran.
He noted that the super-sub has taken ‘serious steps into turning all his promise into reality’, both on the club and international stage.
The former MLS star was brought in as a raw talent from Chicago Fire during the January transfer window of 2023 and now fans are starting to see what he is all about.
It helps matters that Duran has signed a new contract at Villa because now all that transfer noise from the summer can go away.
When the youngster first moved to the Midlands, Angel sent a special video message to the player, as there were going to be obvious comparisons between the two.
But Vickery has shared that the only comparison you can make with the duo is that they both hail from Medellin and that’s where it stops.
Vickery shared how Angel’s upbringing was far different than Duran’s, with the latter ‘very raw’ and questions of if he would go off the rails, as he told the Premier League official website.
Jhon Duran following in Juan Pablo Angel’s footsteps at Aston Villa
“Colombian talent can be frustrating,” wrote Vickery. ‘Duran has been frustrating. But this season, for club and country, he has taken serious steps on the road to turning promise into reality. The promise was apparent right from the beginning, scoring his maiden goal in the Colombian first division before he turned 16. He came up through the ranks with Envigado, a club from the outskirts of Medellin, his native city.
“Villa are well known in Colombia because of the time that Juan Pablo Angel, the top-scoring Colombian in Premier League history, spent there. Like Duran, Angel is from Medellin. But that’s where the similarities end. Angel was an upper-middle-class kid, well-educated, well-disciplined and coming out of an excellent finishing school, Argentina’s River Plate.
“Duran was very raw in comparison, with an air of untrained unpredictability about him that brought threats as well as opportunities. Like so many of his compatriots, might he go off the rails? The answer was not entirely clear for the next year and a half. There were flashes of talent at Villa coupled with decision-making that seemed to strain the patience of head coach Unai Emery.”
Jhon Duran has made the right call to sign a new Aston Villa contract
What happened in the summer wasn’t helpful, nor was it right, but at the end of the day, he is a youngster and these things happen.
It’s all about learning from your mistakes, which he is doing and kicking on from there.
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Villa fans were delighted when Duran signed a new deal and it’s the best call the player himself could have made because of the environment he is in.
It’s a place where everything is on the up, but most importantly, the manager knows how to improve players and take them to serious heights.
