Aston Villa centre-forward Jhon Duran has endured a summer full of intense speculation over his future at the club ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. The Colombia international has attracted interest from both Chelsea and West Ham United during the transfer window, and he has been close to joining both clubs at different points.
However, the former MLS star remains an Aston Villa player at this moment in time, whilst the Villans are still open to offers for the young striker before the deadline at the end of this month.
With Duran’s future at the club still uncertain, sporting director Monchi may just have been given the perfect opportunity to secure his replacement.
Aston Villa offered deal for LaLiga star
According to journalist Ben Jacobs, Aston Villa are one of a number of clubs who have been offered the chance to sign Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion. The reporter claims that Bournemouth, Aston Villa, and Leverkusen have all been given the opportunity to swoop in for the 20-year-old marksman,after Chelsea’s deal for the attacker collapsed.
Sky Sports claimed that the Blues had agreed a £34.5m fee with the Spanish giants for the young Olympian, before contractual issues caused the transfer to fall through.
That, according to Jacobs, has presented Monchi with a chance to seal a deal for Omorodion to bolster Unai Emery‘s options at the top end of the pitch. However, the journalist adds that Villa and Bournemouth did not initiate the contact with Atletico and they are not actively pursuing a move for the striker at this moment in time.
The Villans could do worse than swooping in and making the most of this opportunity, though, as a fantastic replacement for Duran this month.
Why Samu Omorodion would be a good signing
Firstly, Omorodion is a young striker who could come in as a long-term heir to Ollie Watkins and the perfect understudy to the England international, rather than being a signing who would expect to come in and immediately be the starting number nine.
He only turned 20 in May and has plenty of years left ahead of him to develop and grow under Emery and his staff’s coaching, whilst also learning from Watkins.
The Spanish ace, who was described as “powerful” by analyst Ben Mattinson, is also coming off the back of a solid season on loan with Alaves in La Liga – scoring more goals than Duran did for Villa.
|
23/24 season |
Jhon Duran (Premier League) |
Samu Omorodion (LaLiga) |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
23 |
35 |
|
Goals |
5 |
9 |
|
Big chances created |
0 |
2 |
|
Assists |
0 |
1 |
|
Duel success rate |
45% |
39% |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
||
As you can see in the table above, Omorodion outscored the Villans youngster at league level last season, with four more goals in 12 more appearances, to go along with two more ‘big chances’ created for his teammates.
Duran also failed to score in 12 Premier League outings during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign, which means that the Atletico gem scored more goals in La Liga last term than the Colombian marksman has in 18 months in the Premier League. Therefore, Omorodion could end up being a better option, due to his potential to offer more as a scorer and a creator of goals, than the current Villa striker.
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