One week from tomorrow, Aston Villa will take on Club America in a club friendly (branded the Leagues Cup Showcase) at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Will Jhon Duran still be a member of Villa’s squad by then? It’s notable because Soldier Field is the home to the Chicago Fire FC, the club that Villa bought Duran from in January of 2023.
The transfer fee was reported to be an initial £14.75m, with the potential of a further £3m in add-ons.
So this match could be “a homecoming” of sorts.
However, it looks like Villa are set to make a very handsome profit off the sale of the Medellin, Colombia native, as they have set a £40 million valuation for him.
And according to the Daily Mail, West Ham United are seriously considering it.
In fact the east London club (according to The Independent), have already seen a bid for Duran knocked back. The Hammers offered £32m, in a cash-plus-player deal which would’ve seen 18-year-old Hammers’ midfielder Lewis Orford going the other way.
Villa are holding out to get their price met, but it is is worth noting that Jhon Duran has already agreed personal terms to join West Ham about two and a half weeks ago.
In fact, a report in Football Insider, just a couple hours ago, claims that Duran has agreed to a “£90,000-a-week deal with West Ham” and that “all parties expect the deal to get done imminently.”
Of course, we have heard this one before, and it didn’t quite happen; yet.
Jhon Duran (who has also been strongly linked with Chelsea this summer) swapping out his claret and blue for a different shade of claret and blue is a narrative that has gone back and forth several times this summer transfer window.
That’s why they call it the silly season.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.