Jhon Duran announced himself to the West Ham United supporters, but not in the way they would have liked.
Aston Villa beat West Ham 2-1 on Saturday at the London Stadium, with Duran coming off the bench and netting the winner.
Duran has been strongly linked with a move to West Ham all summer, but they didn’t put the money on the table that Villa wanted and he is still in the Midlands.
The 20-year-old’s celebration after scoring was interesting because he pointed to the ground and suggested that he is going to stay.
Duran posted an interesting message on Instagram, with Tim Sherwood lauding his performance and reacting to that celebration.
The former Blackburn Rovers captain joked and asked if Duran was pointing towards staying at Villa or ‘I want to be here’ at the London Stadium.
But Sherwood was pretty clear in telling the rising star that he should ‘stay at Aston Villa’, as he told Premier League Productions (17/08/24 at 7:30 pm).
Jhon Duran told to stay Aston Villa
“They had a threat up front all the time,” said Sherwood. “When they had to make changes off the bench, someone like Duran comes on and wants to prove that he wants to play for this football club.
“He was pointing towards the Villa fans ‘I am going to be here’. Now, I didn’t know whether ‘I want to be here, it’s West Ham’ because they were the team linked with him, or ‘I want to be here at Aston Villa’.
“I would suggest, stay at Aston Villa. If you continue to play like that.”
Jhon Duran and Ollie Watkins
Ollie Watkins, who hasn’t played a single minute in pre-season, started the game against West Ham and only played an hour, understandably so.
Let’s be honest, Duran isn’t going to dethrone Watkins any time soon, but Villa are in the Champions League, so those extra legs, and a bit more, are needed.
READ MORE: Amadou Onana makes ‘unbelievable’ Unai Emery revelation after Aston Villa debut in West Ham win
If Emery is happy to keep the player, then Villa should do everything in their power to keep him on board because his goals from the bench are very, very crucial.
Duran is behind only Erling Haaland in impressive feat after the winner for Villa – He has scored a goal every 103 minutes and the Manchester City man is only better.
