Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed his intention to use Jhon Duran and Cameron Archer as competition and depth this season, and on balance, it’s arguably the right call.
Duran, 19, arrived from Chicago Fire in January and featured 12 times last season, albeit totalling just 124 minutes of play in a bit-part role off the bench.
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Nevertheless, he showed his potential and quality during his time in MLS, scoring eight goals and providing six assists in 28 appearances for Chicago Fire, while he has a goal at senior level for Colombia having earned five caps.
As for Archer, he enjoyed another productive loan spell in the Championship last season, bagging 11 goals and six assists in 23 outings for Middlesbrough, and so it was another box ticked for the 21-year-old who has scored goals wherever he has been and impressed for England U21s too.
While the young duo still require plenty of work to improve and develop their respective games, the raw talent and ability to make a significant impact in the final third is there, and who better than Emery and his coaching staff to help them make progress given how much improvement we saw in the Villa squad last season under the Spanish tactician.
A big decision was required this summer on who would support Ollie Watkins moving forward, and while there is still time for the situation to change, Emery has seemingly decided that it will be Watkins, Archer and Duran who lead his attack in the upcoming campaign.
“We are not speaking about the possibility of him [Duran] going on loan,” Emery told reporters in Florida, as per BirminghamLive. “He’s a player we will need because he is our second striker with Cameron Archer and we have to use both as well and we have to give them chances to help us, but it’s not a possibility for Jhon Duran to go on loan, it’s to stay here.”
Following the sale of Danny Ings in January, Watkins flourished with the responsibility of being our main man up front. While he ended the season with 16 goals and six assists in 40 appearances, 12 of those goals and two assists came in 19 games after Ings left.
The 27-year-old is now firmly established as our frontman to lead the line, and so rather than disrupt that consistency and balance and go back to a situation we had with Ings where there was seemingly a constant debate over who should start, Villa had to change approach and prioritise adding quality depth to challenge Watkins, but largely provide cover.
Further, with the signing of Moussa Diaby, we have strengthened our attack by adding more support around Watkins, and if Emiliano Buendia’s performance against Newcastle Utd this past weekend was anything to go by, the Argentine is ready to step up and make a leap this season too.
Jacob Ramsey, Leon Bailey, Philippe Coutinho, John McGinn and Douglas Luiz will all have a similar objective too as they look to make a bigger impact.
With the three strikers at our disposal currently, we also have a good combination of styles and cover. While Archer offers a similar threat to Watkins, he will be able to fit into the system and style of play and hopefully provide effective cover when called upon.
Duran though offers a different dynamic in the final third with his physicality, aerial threat, ability to hold up the ball and to counter with pace and power, and we’ll undoubtedly need that against certain opposition where we’re perhaps struggling to find a way to break them down through our preferred methods.
There is of course also the option to play two of them together, and so it will be fascinating to see how they combine.
With that balance, the qualities that they offer, with so much room for improvement still to ensure that they make a growing impact in the Villa side and with the support around them to ensure we can get goals and assists from midfield too, Villa have hopefully shaped the ideal attack to help us compete on multiple fronts this season, and if Emery’s happy with his options, that should be all the reassurance needed.
