Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran must be the most unfortunate player in the world currently.
Duran has started this campaign like a house on fire, remarkably scoring each of his four Premier League strikes from the bench.
In the opening-day win over West Ham, the Aston Villa striker scored the winning goal late on and replicated such moments in victories against Leicester City, Everton and Wolves.
Unai Emery promised Duran that he was ‘close’ to starting for Villa, granting him that wish in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash, with Duran netting a penalty against Wycombe Wanderers.
The incredible 20-year-old is currently netting at a rate of one goal every 50 minutes so far this term but that still won’t see him lead the line this weekend, as Ollie Watkins should return to the starting XI against Ipswich Town.
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Darren Bent shares ‘nightmare’ claim on Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran
Watkins started the season slowly but in his previous two Premier League matches, the Englishman has netted a brace against Everton and got the ball rolling in the win over Wolves.
Villa’s talismanic figure is one of the first names on the team sheet and rightly so, having netted 27 goals and supplied 13 assists in all competitions last season.
Watkins is one of the most clinical strikers on the planet and former Aston Villa forward Darren Bent thinks he must be a ‘nightmare’ to play behind.
That isn’t purely down to his goal scoring talent but because the 28-year-old rarely gets injured, and Bent believes that is the ‘worst case scenario’ for Duran, who is just desperate for a Premier League start.
Speaking on talkSPORT’s YouTube channel, Bent said: “Ollie Watkins must be a nightmare to play behind, not because he scores every week, he is so durable OWatkins, that it’s probably the worst case scenario for Jhon Duran to learn off someone like Watkins, who is brilliant and scores goals, works hard for the team and looks like a great lad as well.
“He is just so durable; always scores goals but if you look at his record, the lowest he’s got in Premier League goals is 14 which is very good. He never misses games through injury, ever. Always fit, always there, regardless of whether they play midweek, Saturday, whenever they play, he’s always there.
“And as a centre forward [Duran], you don’t want him to get injured, but just give me an opportunity, just give me a little start somewhere because you know full well he did well against Wycombe, scores the penalty Duran and come next game, Watkins is back.”
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Ollie Watkins sublime Aston Villa injury record
Duran’s unenviable task of usurping Watkins from the starting XI is made even harder by the fact that the England international is always available for selection.
At the beginning of this campaign, the Villa forward did suffer from some muscle fatigue but he made a quick recovery and didn’t lose his place in the side.
When looking at how many games he’s played across the last four seasons for Aston Villa, it’s incredible how he manages to keep himself fit and firing for almost every match.
Since arriving from Brentford in 2020, he’s only missed five Premier League games and that just demonstrates how durable he is.
As the saying goes, availability is the best ability and Watkins marries his peak physical condition with a goal record that places him among Europe’s elite forwards.
