Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins

Ollie Watkins or Jhon Duran could be sold as Aston Villa eye £40m transfer

Senior Scouting Consultant AUTHORITY Former Senior Scout for Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Aston Villa; Scandinavian and European talent specialist who discovered Erling Haaland. FOCUS Global recruitment networks, player market valuation, and continental talent acquisition. THE AUDIT Bryan utilises Statscore’s Advanced Scouting Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Market Value Volatility, Continental Transition Adaptability, and Under-the-Radar Tactical Efficiency. He provides elite-level player profiling to reveal the technical reality behind recruitment that mainstream data ignores.

Published on:

05 Oct 2024, 3:00 pm

Bryan King has speculated that Jhon Duran or Ollie Watkins could leave Aston Villa as the club eye a move for Omar Marmoush.

The ex-Villa scout can't understand why Unai Emery's side would want to sign another forward unless somebody is leaving.

It comes after GiveMeSport reported (3 October) that Villa, alongside West Ham and Newcastle United, could look to make a move for Eintracht Frankfurt and Egypt forward Marmoush within the next 12 months.

The 25-year-old would cost in the region of £40million.

However, King - speaking exclusively to Villa News - claims this transfer speculation could disrupt Watkins and Duran.

"Perhaps Villa are looking to offload Watkins or Duran," King said.

"Does this mean that the club are looking elsewhere for somebody in case the player in question does move on?

"At this point, I wouldn't want to disrupt my senior players by brandishing that the club are looking for another £40million forward. You've got two strikers who are performing quite well.

"Unless there is an injury crisis, or they sell one of Watkins or Duran in January, you couldn't have thought that there would be that much use in looking at someone of that quality in the Bundesliga."

Aston Villa to sell Ollie Watkins or Jhon Duran?

Watkins and Duran have scored 10 goals between them this season. Therefore, it is hard to imagine that Emery wants either of them to be sold.

As a result, news that Villa are looking to sign another forward seems particularly odd. However, if one of Watkins or Duran is looking to move on, it could make sense.

Duran would be the most likely of the two to leave Villa after the 20-year-old came close to quitting the club during the summer.

Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran (credit: Imago)

However, considering the form he has been in this season, Emery would no doubt be keen to keep hold of him.

In other Aston Villa news, Emiliano Martínez is "hurting" after what has happened to the goalkeeper.

For more Aston Villa news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.

Aston Villa