Jhon Duran can follow in Bukayo Saka footsteps with Unai Emery vote of confidence in Europe
The 2018 Europa League was the making of Arsenal star Bukayo Saka, and Jhon Duran can follow in his footsteps at Aston Villa next season.
The Colombian teenager has struggled to adapt to life at Villa Park since sealing his £18million move from Chicago Fire, amassing a mere 124 minutes of Premier League action across 12 substitute appearances.
However, with the added opportunity of the Europa Conference League next season, Unai Emery could mould Duran into a first-team ace as he did with Saka while managing at the Emirates Stadium.
As it stands, Emery has just three centre-forward options at Villa Park, with Ollie Watkins, the returning Cameron Archer, and Duran in his first-team ranks.
And if Villa are to successfully navigate their way through the Europa Conference League as West Ham did this season, they will be expected to play a further 13 games on top of their regular Premier League commitments and domestic cup competitions.
This could, in turn, grant Duran the opportunity to amass a large number of minutes in a less pressurised environment, in comparison to the frantic and ferocious nature of the Premier League.
Although he failed yet to find the back of the net in claret and blue last season, Duran still made his impact known.
According to the Opta-powered stats on FBREF, the Colombian international is in the 93rd percentile of forwards over the last year for non-penalty expected goals (0.53 per 90) as well as sitting in the top 10% of his counterparts for progressive carries (2.20 per 90).
Duran is getting into the right positions to score goals, but his rustiness when coming from the bench is evident.
The striker averages 4.07 shots per 90 minutes – a total which is in the top 3% of attackers in the top eight European leagues – as well as accumulating 1.61 shots on goal per outing. The goals are clearly close, and when he gets one, it feels like they could come in bucketloads.
Although the teenager might be considered as an out-and-out centre-forward for Emery moving forward, his ability to carry the ball through the thirds with pace and power makes him an option out wide for Aston Villa.
Over the last year, he has carried the ball 122.03 yards per 90 minutes – 50.68 of which are progressive – and averaged a total of 20.85 carries.
This opens up the mouth-watering opportunity for Emery to use both Duran and Archer in tandem during the Europa Conference League campaign next year – a combination which will strike fear into many a defence across the continent.
In other Aston Villa news, a dribble-shy player must sharpen up his attacking instincts to be a hit under Unai Emery next season.