Despite not starting at Aston Villa, the Colombian frontman is earning his stripes from off the bench to become one of Europe’s sensations.
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Duran has averaged a goal every other game in his young Premier League career
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The 20-year-old has shone in his cameos for the Colombian national team
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Goalkeeper Emi Martinez believes Duran can become one of the world’s best
He is blessed with a wicked left foot, with which he musters jaw-dropping power and unleashes shots that only he would consider taking. Possessing a remarkable ability to hit the ball with virtually no warning, he creates the space to showcase his firepower before leaving opposition defenders and goalkeepers completely flummoxed.
Try as you might, there’s simply no containing his raw talent. He boasts the sort of electrifying pace commonly associated with a jet-heeled flanker, and bullies defenders with all the nous of your archetypal target man. Despite scoring the sort of goals you’d expect to see from a streetwise number 9, his dribbling ability is more akin to that of a cultured winger.
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Step forward Jhon Duran, the fresh-faced Colombian sensation who harbours serious ambitions of gracing the FIFA World Cup 26™. The enigmatic sharpshooter is enjoying a breathtaking Premier League campaign, in which he is carving out a reputation as a prolific impact sub. Despite being unable to dislodge Ollie Watkins from Villa’s starting line-up, Duran has more than made his mark whenever called, notching almost a goal in every other outing.
Off the pitch, he still looks every bit the youngster who would avoid school to kick back at home to the beat of reggaeton before strutting his stuff on the rough-and-ready pitches of Medellin, as told to The Athletic by Duran’s youth coach Wilberth Perea. In recent times, Duran has made a habit of hitting the headlines.
First, he displayed his displeasure at being replaced immediately after having sealed the deal for Villa in their 2-0 Champions League triumph over Bologna by kicking the back of a seat occupied by a team-mate in the dugout. He was then recently involved in a training-ground altercation with head coach Unai Emery.
These incidents followed on from a video he posted on social media this summer in which he crossed his arms to imitate the irons on West Ham’s crest amid intense rumours that the London Stadium outfit were keen to secure his services.
“I’m a young lad who’s come to England from Colombia, and I’ve got a different mentality,” Duran told Sky Sports. “I’m happy to be learning from Emery. Although he protects me, he sometimes oversteps the mark, and we’re always arguing, but I think that’s to be expected given that I’m so young and he’s so experienced.
“I’m very grateful to be in this environment. Patience has never been one of my strong points, I’ll have to learn on that front. I used to constantly be involved in spats, but I now give it a day or so before the sparks fly.”
Born in Zaragoza, an unassuming town in a mountainous corner of Colombia with a population of just over 25,000, Duran took his first steps in the game at Medellin-based Envigado, who are renowned for their prolific talent production line.
The likes of James Rodriguez, Juan Fernando Quintero, Fredy Guarin and Yaser Asprilla have all emerged from the club’s youth set-up. In his younger days, Duran graced the fabled Pony Futbol tournament – now known as Baby Futbol – which sees Colombia’s brightest up-and-coming talents converge on Medellin for a competition in which the demands are high, as football in its purest form takes centre stage.
Born into a football family, his uncle, Oswaldo Duran, was a goalkeeper for a number of Colombian sides, including Atletico Nacional and Once Caldas, during the 1980s and 90s. Inspired by Oswaldo, the budding footballer lived and breathed the game from a tender age and went to every length to ensure that he made the grade.
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Perea would ask the promising youngster to report for training half an hour before his team-mates to run through video footage of some of the game’s most iconic goal-getters, including Luis Suarez, compatriot Radamel Falcao and David Villa.
At the end of the session, the pair would stay on to work on the burgeoning forward’s heading. Those efforts clearly paid off, with Duran breaking into the Envigado first team at 15 before making the move to MLS outfit Chicago Fire three years later.
He earned rave reviews in his one-season stay in the USA top flight, prompting Aston Villa to come calling in January 2023. After checking in at Villa Park, his first 18 months were spent getting up to speed with the demands of the English top tier.
With Watkins in fine form and very much Emery’s go-to man in the lone striker role, Duran was intent on seeking pastures new in the 2024 summer transfer window. However, he ultimately stayed put in B6 and since the start of this season – when he was handed the iconic number 9 shirt in a clear show of faith on the club’s part – he has found the net virtually every time he has taken to the pitch.
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, one of the dressing-room leaders at the Midlands club, nevertheless sounded a word of caution about his team-mate: “He can become one of the best strikers in the world, but he needs to keep his feet on the ground.”
When questioned about Duran’s angry reaction to being substituted against Bologna, Emery, as keen as ever to provide an environment in which his players can excel and to foster squad togetherness, declared: “I’m managing everything and the players’ reactions. We’re putting a message out to everyone in the dressing room: respect our values and try and be mature and responsible. It’s under my control. The challenge for him is to keep his performance levels up. I can’t wait to see him in the starting line-up.”
Villa are itching to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League and at the top table of European football, with Duran providing an extremely handy option when matches are finely poised.
He has earned his super-sub tag on the strength of the sumptuous effort he lobbed over Manuel Neuer to secure the spoils in the Villans‘ Champions League bout against Bayern Munich, which was followed by a net-rippling strike to complete a winning comeback over Everton, along with a score of other game-changing contributions.
As for his involvement on the national team stage, the Cafeteros are blessed with a glut of attacking riches, including Rafael Borre, the aforementioned Asprilla, Jhon Cordoba and Roger Martinez. As a result, Duran was only given a fleeting taste of action at this summer’s Copa America, in which the Tricolor were agonisingly edged out by Argentina in the showpiece.
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However, in the team’s latest World Cup qualifier, against Chile, the potent poacher was introduced at the interval and – you guessed it – did what he does best when he dispatched an 82nd minute strike in a 4-0 rout.
In reference to how the wonderkid has adapted to life as part of the senior national-team set-up, assistant coach Luis Amaranto Perea told Win Sports: “He’s a good lad deep down. On the face of it, the character and personality he shows on the pitch and his outbursts could fool you into thinking he’s a rebellious or an ill-disciplined guy, but I don’t think that’s the case. He’s settled in perfectly with us.”
With the FIFA World Cup 26 on the horizon and Aston Villa making waves both domestically and in Europe, Duran’s rapid rise shows absolutely no sign of abating.
