Aston Villa have a big decision to make regarding the future of Jhon Duran this summer.
It’s been a rapid start to the summer transfer window at Aston Villa, as Unai Emery and Monchi get to work at tweaking the squad.
Next season, the Villans will play in the Champions League, with plenty of preparation to be done ahead of duelling Europe’s elite.
In the transfer window, nine moves have been sanctioned by Monchi through five arrivals and four exits, with additional movement expected.
How Aston Villa really feel about Jhon Duran amid transfer links to Chelsea and West Ham
So far, Douglas Luiz, Omari Kellyman, Tim Iroegbunam and Philippe Coutinho have left Villa Park ahead of next season.
The next player expected to bid farewell to the club is Jhon Duran, whose future looks to be far from Emery’s plans.
Duran was linked to Chelsea earlier in the summer and has since been approached by West Ham, who presented an offer of £35m for the Colombian.
While it’s clear that Emery is keen to offload Duran, an insight into how the club feel about his possible departure has come to light.
Discussing Villa’s transfer news on the 1874 Podcast, journalist Gregg Evans outlined what is ‘in the back’ of Villa minds amid doubts over the forwards future.
“Every conversation I have about Jhon Duran with people within football talk about his potential and how he could go and kick on and become a real star in the future.
“It would be difficult to see that from a Villa perspective if he moved on and became a star somewhere else so, Villa have always got that in the back of their mind which is why if he does go, they want to get the right money back for him.”
Villa must get the right price for Duran this summer
With Premier League interest comes Premier League money and Monchi must exploit such riches with Duran.
While the Colombian didn’t have a significant amount of game time last season, he showed his mastery when given the chance.
The 20-year-old scored five goals in only three starts in the Premier League last term, sporting a conversion rate of 25% to reinforce his clinical streak, via Sofascore.
Duran is as clinical as forwards come on his day and in being Villa’s firm second-choice, the club must capitalise on the opportunity they have to generate profit on his talent.
As Evans relayed, the club are more than aware of the player the Colombia international can become with regular game time, adding to the importance of the price they part ways with him for.
Only time will tell if West Ham can offer Villa what they want for the striker, who is destined for the top if his career takes the right next step.
