Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran conflict mooted amid £60m Aston Villa exit claim
Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran have been competing for the striker position at Aston Villa this season.
Before Duran was sent off against Newcastle United in the 3-0 Premier League defeat at St James’ Park (26 December) – an incident which the Colombian could yet face further punishment for – the 21-year-old had started three consecutive league matches ahead of Watkins, scoring on each occasion.
It took the striker’s tally to seven Premier League goals for the season, an impressive return considering Duran has only started four of the 18 league matches he has played in.
As a result of this impressive form, transfer interest continues to swirl around Duran, with West Ham submitting a £30 million-plus bid for the Villa number nine [via TBR Football, 13 January].
However, ex-Villa scout Bryan King – speaking exclusively to Villa News – doesn’t see why Unai Emery’s side would sell the forward unless something has happened behind the scenes.
“Duran has only just signed a new contract with Villa,” King said.
“Therefore, I can’t see him joining West Ham, and definitely not for £30million. Villa would want £60million at least. However, why would they want to sell him at all?
“He has just signed a new contract, he seems to have been very influential. Perhaps there is more going on behind the scenes between Watkins and Duran than we are reading. There could be a conflict there, which could be causing this kind of transfer talk.”
Jhon Duran and Ollie Watkins conflict mooted at Aston Villa
It is incredibly unlikely that Villa were ever going to accept a bid of £30million for Duran.
However, what isn’t so unlikely, is the possibility of either one of Watkins or Duran departing the West Midlands club, especially with Paris Saint-Germain showing an interest in the latter [via Mail on Sunday, 12 January, page 94].
Both strikers are good enough to play first-team football week in and week out. However, at the moment, it seems as though Emery is only interested in starting one of the two up front.
Therefore, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see one of Watkins or Duran move on in the summer in search of regular first-team football, depending on how the rest of this season pans out.
In other Aston Villa news, the club have made a Louie Barry exit decision after an approach from Celtic.
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