In just 103 minutes of football so far this season, Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran has scored three goals, all of which have proven to be decisive.
The 20-year-old repeated his trick this weekend with the winning goal in our 3-2 comeback win over Everton, and this was his best effort yet as he thundered in a shot from distance to spark an eruption within Villa Park.
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Aside from the sheer quality involved in his strike which saw him cut across the ball with venom to send it spinning away from the sprawling Jordan Pickford and into the top corner of the net, Duran’s super-sub impact is making such a vital difference in the latter stages of games.
To his credit, the Colombian international is now starting to buy in and adapt more effectively to what Unai Emery is demanding of him from a tactical and structural perspective too.
Duran comes on with energy and desire to apply pressure on the opposition’s defence and force mistakes, and he was seen rampaging around the final third again in this encounter as he led our press and gave us a crucial renewed sense of impetus to go on and find a winner.
After all the talk over the summer over his future, it’s so refreshing to see him respond and deliver in this way and become a pivotal presence for Emery and Villa, and he’s showing more consistency both with his goalscoring form and his influence on our play when involved.
Naturally, he’ll want this form to lead to a starting role, as that was ultimately his gripe last season as he continued to play second fiddle behind Ollie Watkins.
The fact that Watkins scored a brace in this game to rediscover his own goalscoring form at a critical moment for him after a difficult start to the campaign, suggests that he’ll continue to lead the Villa line in the coming weeks with Duran having to be content with a bench role.
He’ll likely get the nod in our Carabao Cup encounter with Wycombe Wanderers next week, and it wouldn’t come as any kind of surprise if he were to deliver a knockout blow to Young Boys in our Champions League opener on Tuesday evening.
However, it’s just another huge positive to start this season that Duran is looking settled, happy and is producing a decisive contribution when called upon, without the off-the-pitch distractions. Perhaps those internal discussions over the summer were really were a breakthrough moment for him.
As noted above, beyond the class of his goals, he’s showcasing important signs with regards to his approach and mentality now too, and given Emery never once wavered from his belief and confidence in Duran’s potential and ability to make a key impact in a Villa shirt, he’ll be delighted that faith is being repaid.
As with every player in the squad and given the level at which we’re trying to compete, the challenge for Duran is an ongoing one. He must continue to deliver consistently when called upon and his opportunities will undoubtedly increase as a result.
Emery conceded after the game that he’s still got work to do in making a partnership between Watkins and Duran work to make that a viable option as part of his starting line-up moving forward. Given the work he’s done individually and collectively with this squad to date though, there is every faith in the Villa boss to find the answers to that conundrum too.
🚀 Jhon Duran goal…#avfc #UTVpic.twitter.com/pKHTshsrGF
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) September 14, 2024
