Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!
Despite Aston Villa’s twin-engine strike force being linked with moves elsewhere just over a year ago, Unai Emery was dreaming of a dynasty. “Hopefully we can be together with Ollie Watkins and Jhon Durán for 10 years,” he told reporters with the optimistic tone of a man who hadn’t yet checked the young Colombian’s WhatsApp status. “Maybe 12 years, maybe 15!” Despite interest at the time from Arsenal, Watkins remains at Villa but his considerably younger former teammate has just forced a move to his third club in three different time zones since leaving Birmingham. Of course, it’s no secret that he has form in the itchy feet department, as Villa fans who remember his ill-advised crossed-arms ‘Irons’ pose on a live Social Media Disgrace feed before a move to West Ham that never materialised will attest.
Eager to worm his way back into the good books of denizens of the Holte End after that particular debacle, Durán proceeded to do exactly that by scoring 12 goals in 27 appearances, a tally that included several absolute worldies and earned him a £64m move to Saudi club Al-Nassr. Described a tad euphemistically as “a lively kid” by his former teammate Amadou Onana, and a “bit nuts … a nightmare to have in your team sometimes” by straight talking’s John McGinn, Durán had a reputation for being something of a maverick and chilled-out entertainer whose attitude to timekeeping, on-field pressing and being behind Watkins in the Villa pecking order left a lot to be desired. His move to Al-Nassr, from whom he is understood to trouser £355,000 per week, was cited as being indicative of a lack of ambition by a young player who decided to choose money ahead of legacy, albeit by the kind of sanctimonious folk who almost certainly wouldn’t have batted an eyelid if he’d gone to West ham instead.
