Emery ‘loses patience’ with Aston Villa ace, Villa Park exit sanctioned – BBC WM
Aston Villa will be glad to see the back of Jhon Duran due to Unai Emery losing patience with the striker, according to Steve Hermon.
The BBC WM broadcaster (30 January) reported on X that Emery “can’t tolerate” the attitude of Duran, who is on the verge of a lucrative switch to Al-Nassr of the Saudi Pro League.
The head coach has admitted it will be “good news for [Villa]” when Duran completes his expected departure (BBC WM, 30 January) for a fee surpassing £64.4million plus bonuses (Sky Sports, 30 January), despite having scored 12 goals this season so far, mainly as a substitute.
“I can only imagine that Emery can’t tolerate Duran’s attitude, which is why he’s willing to sell… of course it’s very good money as well,” Hermon explained in his post.
“It’ll be interesting to see if they have a replacement lined up already, because having only Watkins for the rest of the season is a risk.”
Duran’s anticipated exit to Saudi Arabia will end the much-debated competition with Ollie Watkins to lead the line at Villa Park.
Emery pulls no punches on Duran exit from Aston Villa
Emery certainly hasn’t held back in his honesty and has in fairness put up with several windows of transfer speculation regarding Duran.
The 21-year-old maverick Colombian international has endeared supporters to him with his style, his mannerisms and most of all his impact this season, but has always been the subject of intense transfer talk.
Much of this is down to his consistent absences from the starting XI as Emery will not compromise his one-man centre-forward system, often preferring Watkins which was rubber-stamped when the England man hit fruitful form during Duran’s suspension, after his red card at Newcastle United on Boxing Day.
Of course, the feeling eats away at some supporters that Duran is wasting some of the most exciting years of his career by heading over to Riyadh, where he will earn a ridiculous weekly wage and play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo – albeit well away from much of the limelight and giving up Champions League football.
Emery is keen to move on with a squad all pulling in the same direction, which is integral given Villa’s passage into the last 16 in Europe after Wednesday’s entertaining win over Celtic (29 January), along with their continued presence in the FA Cup and marginal four-point gap to the Premier League’s top four and five.
In other Aston Villa news, Neil Lennon was wowed by a certain moment in the Celtic clash at Villa Park.
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