Aston Villa have confirmed the exit of Jhon Duran, who has joined Al Nassr in a deal reported to be worth €77m plus add-ons.
The 21-year-old arrived from Chicago Fire in January 2023, and he went on to make 78 appearances for the club, scoring 20 goals without any assists.
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After a contentious summer last year during which he was heavily linked with a departure and didn’t endear himself to Villa fans with his off-the-pitch antics, he impressed many with his attitude, application and maturity after reporting for pre-season training, and went on to score 12 goals in 29 outings this season.
However, his time at Villa has come to an end already as confirmed by the club’s statement, with Duran joining Al Nassr in a move reported to be worth €77m plus add-ons, as reported by the Athletic.
On one hand, Villa are losing a major talent with the potential to have a bright future, and perhaps we’ve lost a long-term solution up front to eventually replace Ollie Watkins.
That said, both Unai Emery and Monchi have publicly hinted in recent days that it was Duran who wanted to leave, and after working so hard to integrate him, help him to adapt and showcase his obvious talent on a more consistent basis, the substantial offer from Al Nassr was too much to ignore, especially if the player himself was ready to move on.
It’s a huge fee that will hopefully now fund our own transfer drive to bring in reinforcements to improve Emery’s squad, and the hope is that we will ultimately be better off after this decision as we look to compete across multiple fronts and build a squad capable of achieving success.
With Emery noting on Friday afternoon in his pre-Wolves press conference that Watkins is committed to Villa and an exit won’t happen amid links with Arsenal, this largely comes down to having players at the club who ultimately want to be here.
Considering that critical factor along with the fee involved, it’s smart business from Villa to cash in and move on without Duran, but the priority now is getting our recruitment right to ensure that we move in the right direction and continue to become increasingly competitive despite the exits we’ve seen this month and last summer.