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3 months ago
33 Unai Emery was unable to confirm whether Jhon Duran would remain at Aston Villa beyond this summer following their victory against West Ham on Saturday.
Villa got their campaign off to the perfect start as they beat the Hammers 2-1 thanks to goals from Amadou Onana and Duran, whilst Lucas Paqueta had levelled the game from the penalty spot.
It seemed inevitable that Duran would score and he had been strongly linked with a move to the London Stadium earlier this summer, with West Ham having a bid turned down for the Colombian.
Emery can’t confirm if Duran will stay
The future of Duran has been a topic of conversation for the majority of the summer, with the 20-year-old also strongly linked with a move to Chelsea, but that move failed to materialise.
The Colombia international is still at Villa and could have a key role to play as the club embark on a Champions League campaign.
However, when asked by Sky Sports about Duran’s future after the game he couldn’t confirm if the striker would still be at the club beyond this summer.
Duran has been strongly linked with a move away from Villa this summer.“I don’t know, there will be more rumours about him after his goal, but I believe in him,” the Spaniard said.
“I gave him 30 minutes today and he’s very important to us.”
It’s believed Duran wants to play regularly and he could certainly get that opportunity with Villa given the amount of games they could have this season.
Duran arrived from at Villa from MLS side Chicago fire in January 2023and made 49 appearances for the club, scoring eight goals.

The problem Duran faces at Villa Park is that he will likely almost always be second choice to Ollie Watkins, but at just 20 there’s no need to be a rush to leave in search of being a regular starter.
It’s certainly a situation to keep an eye and it will be interesting to see if West Ham or even Chelsea go back in or any other suitors, although Villa won’t want to leave it too close to the deadline as they will need to bring a replacement in.
