Significant update in Chelsea’s chase for Aston Villa ace Jhon Duran

It’s all change at Chelsea and Aston Villa it seems, with a number of players – including Jhon Duran – looking to potentially switch between West London and the Midlands.

The Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) appear to be having the effect of bringing everyone into line in terms of Financial Fair Play, however, it does mean that no players are immune from potentially being sold for the simple fact that clubs daren’t go over the FFP threshold for fear of being docked points.

Chelsea given permission to speak to Jhon Duran

That’s clearly a reason why Chelsea captain for most of the 2023/24 season, Conor Gallagher, remains one of the players that the Blues could sell, a potential £50m fee being pure profit given that the 24-year-old is a Blues academy product.

According to The Telegraph (subscription required), Gallagher is one of two Chelsea players that Villa have asked about, with Ian Maatsen – who spent the second half of last season on loan at Dortmund – being the other.

Separate from both of those potential deals is Chelsea’s pursuit of Villa marksman, Jhon Duran.

Though the 20-year-old’s Villa career started off slowly, by the end of last season, Duran was getting much more involved (per WhoScored).

It’s therefore odd for Unai Emery to grant Chelsea permission to speak to the player in what can only be described as a significant update to the story.

That would suggest that the player is surplus to Villa’s requirements or something has happened behind the scenes for the manager and his staff to believe that the club will be better off by letting him leave.

From the player’s point of view, he needs to sit tight at the moment as both clubs go through the necessary procedures to ensure that the transfer proceeds to completion.