Aston Villa to sign new centre-forward before 1 February deadline after what Fabrizio Romano said
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Alan Hutton believes that Aston Villa will sign a new centre-forward before the January transfer deadline after an update emerged surrounding Jhon Duran’s future at Villa Park.
Reports appeared that Villa may be willing to allow the 20-year-old to leave Villa Park this month if they manage to complete the signing of Middlesbrough’s Morgan Rogers, as Emery doesn’t want to leave himself short of attacking options [Daily Mail, 25 January].
Fabrizio Romano added via X (25 January) that Chelsea are considering a move for the Colombian forward this month and internal discussions are already taking place over their next steps with no decision reached currently.
While Hutton admits that he cannot understand why Emery would be willing to let Duran leave in the January window, he thinks Villa will have to sign a replacement if they want to keep their place in the race for Champions League football.
“I would feel that they would have to,” Hutton told Villa News.
“You look at where they’re sitting in the league, I know they’re fourth but they’re only a couple of points off of Manchester City in second. It’s very tight and they’re going to want to obviously push in the second half of the season.
“God forbid anything would happen to Ollie Watkins as he’s the number one guy at this moment in time, but if something did, who comes in?
“If Duran was to leave you’d have to have another option to bring in this January so it will be an interesting one. At this moment in time, it might happen still, but I don’t see why they would let him go.”
So far this season, Duran has been little more than a support act to Watkins in the Premier League. While the 20-year-old has made 14 league appearances, scoring twice, he is yet to be named in Emery’s starting XI, with his only starts coming in cup competitions.
The Colombian forward has shown plenty of promise however in his limited game time and it would be a huge risk to lose him at such a crucial point of the season.
Hopefully, Aston Villa will find themselves a new number nine if they let this move happen.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton remains confident that Villa will seal a deal for Middlesbrough gem Morgan Rogers this month
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