Aston Villa forward Jhon Duran will reportedly play a part for us this season amid speculation suggesting that he could be loaned out instead.
The 19-year-old joined us from Chicago Fire in January and went on to make 12 appearances in the Premier League, albeit only totalling 124 minutes of football.
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Following the decision to sell Danny Ings, it had perhaps been expected that Duran’s involvement would increase as chief support to Ollie Watkins, but Unai Emery used him sparingly and didn’t rush his development and his need for time to settle in England.
Given that lack of playing time, combined with the expectation that Cameron Archer could remain with Villa this year and play a role himself, there had been suggestions that Duran could be loaned out to gain experience and play regularly.
However, as per journalist Pipe Sierra, it’s reported that contrary to those reports, Villa have told Duran that they will count on him this season and that he is travelling back to Birmingham to begin pre-season training this weekend.
With Villa looking to compete on multiple fronts in the upcoming campaign, including in the Europa Conference League, we are expected to have a hectic fixture schedule that will hopefully see us play in excess of at least 50 games.
In turn, Emery will need a strong squad to cope with that, with competition and depth in every position a requisite if we want to become a top club competing for major honours, and so Duran will be needed to continue to push Watkins, and perhaps Archer.
That said, it’s easy to see why a loan would make sense for the talented Colombian youngster, as he is still inexperienced at this level and could perhaps benefit from having a more prominent role elsewhere to prepare him for a key role at Villa.
Nevertheless, Emery and his coaching staff will undoubtedly be the best judges of that having had a chance to closely monitor him for the past six months, and if they feel that he can contribute next season and want him to stay, then it will hopefully prove to be an important decision that boosts our chances of being successful.