Jhon Duran has spoken about his Aston Villa future after reports suggesting Arsenal made an approach for the Colombian striker.
The striker has enjoyed a stunning start to the season despite playing second fiddle to Ollie Watkins.
He has netted more goals (10) than Watkins (7) in all competitions – despite only starting four games, two of which were in the Carabao Cup.
The 20-year-old came off the bench and scored in victories over Southampton and RB Leipzig.
Duran came close to leaving in the summer with West Ham launching an unsuccessful £30m offer for the striker before he signed a new Villa contract.
In October, reports suggested that Arsenal had made an approach over the possibility of signing Duran.
Jhon Duran ‘Happy’ To Be An Aston Villa Player
“I’m just happy to be here. I actually love the competition I have going with Ollie Watkins,” Jhon Duran told Aston Villa’s official website after the side’s 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig in regards to his future.
“When it’s my turn, I will step up, and hopefully I can score and help the team.”
Aston Villa strengthened their bid to automatically qualify for the last-16 of the Champions League by beating RB Leipzig.
They sit inside the top eight in fifth with games against Monaco and Celtic still to come.
“We worked hard as a team, and, well, that’s my job, to score,’ he added.
“That’s what I work hard to do, but the main thing is three points away from home, and that’s what we got today.
“We’re so happy to be where we are in the standings right now. We’ve got to win the next game and we’re almost through, so we’re delighted about that.”
“If they don’t find a way to keep him happy he will leave in the summer” 👋
The #GoalsShowXtra panel discuss whether Aston Villa will have to make a choice between Jhon Durán and Ollie Watkins 🤔
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/m7pO48CweR
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 10, 2024
’40 Clubs’ Explored Possibility Of Signing Duran
Aston Villa did well to convince Jhon Duran to commit his future to the club with a new contract.
The Colombian who scored a stunning winner against Bayern Munich earlier this season signed a deal up until 2030.
Villa chief Monchi revealed recently that as many as 40 clubs explored the possibility of signing Duran in the summer.
“We have two very strong strikers, him and Watkins,” he told Sky Italia as per the Metro.
“Duran wanted to play more minutes, and we needed to sell a player due to FFP, but without an important offer we were convinced he would stay here.
“Emery has a lot of faith in him: some offers have arrived, there were meetings, but the amount we asked for did not arrive.”
