Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran has responded to questions about his future at the club amid speculation linking him with a potential exit.
The 20-year-old has featured 23 times for Villa so far this season across all competitions, scoring four goals and providing one assist, albeit he has totalled 662 minutes of football having been given a limited role thus far behind Ollie Watkins.
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Given our lack of depth up front, Duran has a key role to play not only in allowing Unai Emery to rotate and rest Watkins, but also to offer us a different dynamic in the final third with his attributes to pose a different threat when needed.
However, there has been a lot of talk off the pitch revolving around his social media activity in recent weeks, and that has led to rumours of a potential exit from Villa.
As per the Telegraph earlier this month, it was suggested that interest was building in Duran and that there was friction between him and Emery, while Gianluca Di Marzio later reported that AC Milan were keen on the Colombian international.
If he were to leave, Villa would absolutely need to replace him and fill that void in the squad, but based on Emery’s most recent comments in his pre-Everton press conference last week, the Villa boss sees him as an important option who is progressing, and could potentially have a more important role for us moving forward.
With the Villa squad now on a break before we return to action against Chelsea in the FA Cup on January 26, Duran has taken the opportunity to return home, but he hasn’t been able to escape questions over his future as he addressed the speculation.
“I have my head in Aston Villa,” Duran told Win Sports TV, as translated by BirminghamLive. “I’m not really interested in those things, I mainly stay away from social media [and noise] and focus on family.
“I am not aware of interests in AC Milan or Chelsea. They are giant clubs, but I have no knowledge of anything. As a child you dream of playing there.
“It is the best league in the world and we all want to be there. The moment we are having and the team is very important. We are fighting for the Champions League positions. It is excellent to be there and it is the best league in the world and everyone wants to join.
“We will continue to work to stay at the top of the table and we continue to focus on the goal of playing Champions League football.”
“It is very difficult It is a new culture, new stadiums and new teammates. There are many things, understand what the manager wants and it is possible to continue improving. I am happy with my progress.”
The interviewer in the clip above seems intent on pressing Duran about his future and the potential interest from the likes of Chelsea and Milan, and so although some may take issue with a particular part of his response above, it does seem as though the Villa man was doing his best to dismiss the speculation.
With a couple of weeks remaining in the January transfer window, it remains to be seen if anything changes, but ultimately if he does stay for the remainder of the campaign, we hope he’ll be able to make a significant contribution when called upon by Emery to ensure we keep our positive season going.
Villa remain in the hunt for a top-four finish in the Premier League as well as the FA Cup and Europa Conference League, and with the volume of games to come, Duran will get minutes, and he’ll hopefully realise his potential to make an important impact.
