Journalist would be ‘very surprised’ if Unai Emery lets Jhon Duran leave Aston Villa on loan in January
We’re delighted to welcome Sky Sports journalist Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Dan Bardell would be “very surprised” if Unai Emery allowed Jhon Duran to leave Aston Villa on loan in the January transfer window.
Colombian outlet Noticias RCN reported on 23 October that the 19-year-old had been in a dispute with the Villa boss over a lack of game time after he deleted all of his posts related to the club on his Instagram.
The Colombian international hasn’t featured in the Premier League for the Villans since the 6-1 victory over Brighton on 30 September despite being named on the bench for the 3-1 victory against Fulham on 12 November.
Bardell believes the only way Duran would be allowed to leave on loan to secure more first-team minutes would be if another forward were to join the club, something he sees as an unlikely prospect given the form of Ollie Watkins.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “I don’t think Villa have got the depth to be able to let him go on loan. If he’d played no minutes this season and hadn’t made an impact, then maybe yeah. But Villa don’t have another forward, so I would be very surprised to see him leave.
“You look at his record this season, he has scored goals in games. He pulled Villa back into that Crystal Palace game, he came on and scored against Everton and scored in Europe as well. I can’t imagine a world where Villa let Duran go out on loan unless they had plans to bring a forward in.
“But I think it’s very difficult for Villa to bring a forward in because everyone knows, a bit like when Harry Kane was at Spurs, that Ollie Watkins is the number-one forward and he’s going to play every single week and he’s got that partnership with Diaby now.
“So I can’t see that happening, I’d be really surprised if Villa let Duran go out on loan, especially bearing in mind they let Archer go in the summer as well.”
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