Unai Emery has handled enough high-maintenance players during his long coaching career to cope with the challenge, but ultimately the enigma that is Jhon Durán proved too much even for him at Aston Villa.
By the end, Emery could have volunteered to drive Duran down to London for his medical himself, after finally accepting that the £65 million fee offered by Al Nassr was impossible to turn down. It is expected that the end of Duran’s two-year spell at Villa will be confirmed on Friday.
There is little doubt in Emery’s mind that Durán is a potential world-beater and a £100 million player. He is the king of chaos, who can turn games in the blink of an eye. Witness the spectacular goal against Everton in September and another “worldie” in the famous Champions League victory over Bayern Munich a few weeks later.
Months and months of intense work on and away from the training pitches at Bodymoor Heath have transformed the Colombian into a player who could eventually earn Villa more than £70 million after instalments.
Team-mates said he was ‘a bit nuts’
Villa were delighted when Durán agreed to sign a new contract in October and, even a few weeks ago, genuinely regarded him as a key player in Emery’s plans. Yet the unpredictability that struck such fear in the opposition was also present off the pitch.
There was always too much noise around Durán. Even if, for example, Ollie Watkins had been allowed to leave for Arsenal this month, it was feared that speculation about Durán’s future would resurface in every transfer window.
For all the hype around him, it is worth remembering that he had only a handful of impressive games as a starter, such as the 2-1 victory at home to Manchester City, in which he opened the scoring.
Perhaps last week’s Champions League defeat in Monaco was the final straw. Durán produced an anonymous performance as a substitute and Emery delivered a rare withering assessment of some players after the game. The 21-year-old was undoubtedly in his sights. There has often been a feeling that Durán’s off-the-cuff approach does not fit with Emery’s meticulous and structured methods.
While the squad recognised Durán’s immense potential, there were also times when he frustrated them, too.
In an interview towards the end of last season Villa midfielder John McGinn described Durán as “a bit nuts”. Sources have suggested that was a huge understatement.
Only last summer Durán was pictured performing the Hammers gesture as West Ham pursued his signing.
Chelsea are one club understood to have dropped their interest in Durán after carrying out due diligence on his character and temperament.
Other clubs, however, continued to identify him as a potential game-changing signing. West Ham attempted to sign him last week and there were other offers from rival clubs before Al-Nassr blew them all out of the water.
Villa’s best sale since Grealish
Was it ever a choice between selling either Durán or Watkins? Was it ever that simple? Villa’s issues with profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) remain a major headache for the club, and every deal this month has been scrutinised to the last detail.
Donyell Malen, the £19.5 million capture from Borussia Dortmund, could only arrive when Jaden Philogene joined Ipswich Town for a similar amount.
Other deals have been weighed up with equal care, and Durán’s sale will now ramp up Villa’s interest in Chelsea’s João Félix, a long-term target for Emery.
There is no question that Durán’s sale is a PSR dream for Villa. Not just this month, or in June, but perhaps for years to come.
Signed for around £18 million from Chicago Fire in January 2023, he represents the most significant profit Villa have made since the record £100 million sale of Jack Grealish to Manchester City.
By selling Durán to a Saudi club, there is little prospect of him coming back to haunt Villa in the Premier League or Champions League.
Despite all that heavy baggage, Durán’s departure will be a disappointment for Emery. He has tried his utmost to get Durán onside. In recent months he has frequently reflected on the almost impossible task of playing Watkins and Durán together.
Watkins has always been a striker who wants to be the main man, and he fits in perfectly with Emery’s 4-3-3 approach, including a lone forward.
Forward will surely be tempted back to Europe
Once the interest from Saudi Arabia materialised, it became a forlorn task for Emery to convince Durán to stay. The riches on offer will be life-changing. The signing of a young talent, meanwhile, is further evidence of the direction in which the Saudi Pro League is heading.
Will Durán be satisfied professionally with such a move? He will have Cristiano Ronaldo as a team-mate, but how will he feel in a year or two?
One suspects that Durán will be back in the Premier League, or elsewhere in Europe, soon. We have almost certainly not seen the last of the maverick from Medellín.
