View: Jhon Duran must bide his time at Aston Villa as Unai Emery faces selection headache
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery may remain hesitant to place new January recruit Jhon Duran in his staring line-up over the coming weeks due to the lack of alternatives who can impact the game from the bench.
Since signing from Chicago Fire in the winter window, the Colombian teenager has looked a powerful presence from the bench, impressing with a couple of short cameos against Manchester City and Arsenal.
After replacing the ever-mercurial Leon Bailey on the hour mark against the Premier League champions, the young striker had a sizeable impact on the game and came close to opening his Aston Villa account with a rocketing strike that cannoned against Ederson’s crossbar.
Villa fans have been left purring at the prospect of Duran and Ollie Watkins starting as a front two together, but due to the make-up of Emery’s squad, it wouldn’t be surprising for his bit-part role to continue for the time being.
When the club sold Danny Ings to West Ham last month and also gave the green light for Cameron Archer to join Middlesbrough on loan, Duran and Watkins were left as the only two out-and-out centre-forwards at the club.
So far in his tenure, Emery has selected a winger on the right hand side of his front-two – be that Bailey, Emi Buendia or even Philippe Coutinho – and has been reluctant to play two proper centre-forwards together.
Added to the equation must be the lack of options Emery would have to impact a game in its dying stages if he fielded his only two strikers from the off. When falling behind in a game and wanting to throw bodies forward in the dying stages, a striker is the first person a manager turns to from his bench.
But if Duran is already burned out on the pitch after 70 minutes, it would make Villa a little one dimensional to defend against in the closing stages of matches.
There is no chance that the Spaniard would contemplate dropping Ollie Watkins following his run of four consecutive Premier League games with a goal, so Duran may have to settle for a spot on the bench right now.
From the early signs, the Colombian looks like he could have a huge future at Villa Park, but fans must remain patient and trust that the club’s strategy is the right one.
In other Aston Villa news, the club want to reunite with a former player for a fee in excess of £40million in the summer.