How Duran is fulfilling his potential for Villa and Colombia

South American football journalist Tim Vickery provides expert insight on Jhon Duran following his superb start to 2024/25 with Aston Villa.

Player profile: Jhon Duran

Duran made his Colombia debut just over two years ago, coming on in a friendly against Guatemala as a half-time substitute for Radamel Falcao.

It felt as if the baton was being passed from one generation to the next, with the nation’s all-time top scorer giving way to the new great centre-forward hope.

But there have been false dawns before. Back at Copa America in 1999, 16-year-old Johnnier Montano scored a wonderful goal against Argentina. He appeared to have it all in front of him, but he was hardly heard of again and ended up playing most of his football in Peru.

Fast forward to 2016 and Marlos Moreno was a sensation in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s Champions League. He joined Manchester City, announcing that he would go on to be the most successful Colombian ever in European football - and little has been heard of him since.

Colombian talent can be frustrating. Duran has been frustrating. But this season, for club and country, he has taken serious steps on the road to turning promise into reality.

The promise was apparent right from the beginning, scoring his maiden goal in the Colombian first division before he turned 16.  He came up through the ranks with Envigado, a club from the outskirts of Medellin, his native city.  

It was a good place to start.

Envigado is a small club, and a relatively new one, founded in the late 1980s. But it has already established an excellent tradition for youth development.

Former Everton star James Rodriguez is merely the most prominent of a lengthy list of Colombian internationals who began at the club

The clubs of Major League Soccer in the United States scout extensively in South America. Colombia is a special target - there are strong cultural ties, with the Colombian immigrant community the sixth-largest in the US.

It was entirely natural, then, for Chicago Fire to be having a look at players from Envigado. The special aspect in the deal that took Duran north was his age.

Chicago were running the rule over another player and quickly fell under the spell of the lanky, left-footed teenage striker.

They signed their man, although they had to wait until he was 18 to take him up to Illinois.

Villa come calling

Bolstered by the confidence shown in him, Duran enjoyed a storming 2021 with Envigado, and then carried that form into Major League Soccer. He was already a senior international when he was preparing to lead the Colombia attack on home ground as they hosted the South American Under-20 Championships at the start of 2023.

But it was then that Aston Villa swooped. On the eve of the tournament he was whisked away across the Atlantic.  

At first there was a hope that, medical concluded, contract signed, he would be back for the business end of the competition. But Colombia waited in vain as Villa gave priority to bedding the player into his new circumstances.

But any frustration towards his new club was only temporary, and soon gave way to curiosity. Villa are well known in Colombia because of the time that Juan Pablo Angel, the top-scoring Colombian in Premier League history, spent there. Like Duran, Angel is from Medellin. 

Most PL goals by Colombians

But that's where the similarities end. Angel was an upper-middle-class kid, well-educated, well-disciplined and coming out of an excellent finishing school, Argentina’s River Plate.

Duran was very raw in comparison, with an air of untrained unpredictability about him that brought threats as well as opportunities. 

Like so many of his compatriots, might he go off the rails?

The answer was not entirely clear for the next year and a half. There were flashes of talent at Villa coupled with decision-making that seemed to strain the patience of head coach Unai Emery.

And with Colombia his opportunities were even more limited, his role restricted to that of occasional late substitute, although he did score against Japan on his full debut.

As recently as Copa America 2024, in the United States, he had clearly not won the trust of Nestor Lorenzo, the one-time Swindon Town defender who is in charge of the national team.

He made just one appearance in the competition, coming off the bench in a group match against Costa Rica with his side already 3-0 up.

Things have changed. Perhaps the key moment was Emery’s insistence on keeping him over the summer, when he could have been sold on to a number of interested parties. 

It may have been the gesture of faith that Duran needed. 

International impact

Colombia have also gained the benefit.

Last month Duran came off the bench away to Peru and saved Colombia. The opposing defence could not cope with his power in the air, and he set up the equaliser for Luis Diaz.

And then a few days later he started - for only the second time for his country - for the visit of world champions Argentina, and played a key role in the move where Colombia gained their match-winning penalty.

Fitting into the national team requires adaptation and sacrifice. To accommodate Rodriguez, Colombia often throw the strikers wide. Diaz works from the left and the other striker has to operate on the right.

Against Argentina, Duran had to work back in defence and often found himself far from goal and on his "wrong" foot. But he stuck to his task well, with the same glow of confidence he has been showing this season for Villa.

Towards the end of the match he was substituted and spent so long ambling off the field that he picked up a yellow card.

A few months back the interpretation would certainly have been negative - the thoughtless action of an irresponsible young man with a lot of maturing to do. This time, though, it looks like strategy - it means he is suspended from Thursday’s trip to the dreaded extreme altitude of Bolivia.

He will be fresh and ready to be back next Tuesday for the home encounter with Chile, when the nation will be anxious for the return of the new Premier League hero.

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