Jhon Duran is one of the best young strikers on the planet and Aston Villa are thankful it’s them who own him as it could have been completely different.
In the summer, Aston Villa slapped a £40 million asking price on Jhon Duran, who was seeking a move out of Villa Park due to lack of playing time.
Chelsea weren’t willing to meet the financial demands of Duran’s transfer while West Ham tried, and failed, to sign the 20-year-old.
TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher couldn’t believe that no one triggered Villa’s asking price for Duran – despite up to 40 clubs showing an interest – and he remained in Birmingham.
That is proving to be a touch of fortune as the young Colombian striker has started this season like a house on fire with five goals in eight appearances, four of which have come from the substitutes bench.
It’s the level of form that makes the £14 million Villa paid for Duran in January 2023 look incredibly cheap, with the powerful forward arriving from Chicago Fire.
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Unai Emery had to be convinced to sign Jhon Duran for Aston Villa
The transfer of Duran to Villa was long in the pipeline, even before Unai Emery arrived at the club in October 2022.
As per The Athletic, the Villans were ‘relentless’ in their push to sign the Colombian, who was only 18 at the time, and staff travelled back and forth to the US to convince the striker to join.
There were, however, two sticking points in negotiations for the youngster; one of those was interest from European giants Atletico Madrid, and the other was persuading Emery, who didn’t know who Duran was.
Luckily, after watching videos presented to him by the analysis staff, Emery instantly saw his ‘vast potential’ and sanctioned the deal.
Villa supporters will be very pleased that the Spaniard came to that conclusion, despite not knowing much about him, but it just highlights how good he is at spotting potential.
Aston Villa played a blinder in the Jhon Duran deal
When Villa initially showed interest in Duran towards the end of 2022, they were loitering towards the bottom of the Premier League under Steven Gerrard.
It took Emery’s arrival and rounds of negotiations to persuade him to join, with the project on offer much more attractive with a world-class manager at the helm.
Since it emerged that Atletic Madrid were interested in Duran, co-owner Wes Edens and the other staff involved did remarkably well to beat them to his signature.
At the time, some will have perhaps questioned the decision to pay almost £15 million – potentially rising to £18m – for a teenage striker from the MLS.
But having watched Duran, particularly this season, fans now realise what a tremendous piece of business it was from the club, as he could be worth a triple figure sum in years to come.
