John McGinn expresses his delight at Aston Villa teammates' progress

Aston Villa captain John McGinn was full of praise for teammate Jhon Duran following Saturday's 2-1 victory over Leicester City. Duran scored Villa's second goal, which would prove to be the winner, and McGinn has spoken of his delight at how well Duran has settled following a summer of transfer uncertainty:

""I was quite hard on him last season after one of the games in an interview. Just about his attitude and how he can improve that, but in all fairness I’ve been pleasantly surprised.""

The Scottish international went on to say:

""He has all the attributes to be a world-class striker and we’re seeing glimpses of it now. He doesn’t seem to have let anything in the summer affect him. Maybe the penny has dropped for him. He’ll get his opportunities, chances, goals, and even his attitude off the pitch.""

Duran had an eventful summer transfer window, to say the least. Duran appeared close to a move to Chelsea at the beginning of the summer but a move reportedly collapsed due to Chelsea not being impressed with Villa's asking price or the players' potential wage demands. This had come after Duran and his media team pushed for a move to the club by engaging with several Chelsea social media posts. Weeks later, Duran had been an Instagram live feed seemingly creating the Hammers sign with his arms after reports emerged that he was edging closer to a move to West Ham United. However, that deal also fell through as the London club was unwilling to meet Villa's £40 million transfer valuation.

More to come from Duran

The 20-year-old Colombian forward has had an excellent start to the season. All three of Villa's games so far have seen Duran replace Ollie Watkins with half an hour to play and he has gone on to score the winning goal in two of those three games.

It was understood that Duran was frustrated at his lack of playing time since his arrival at the club in January 2023 and that was the driving force behind wanting a move elsewhere. His first season with the club saw him make just 12 substitute appearances and the previous campaign saw the young forward start just three Premier League matches. With Villa's main forward Ollie Watkins being in such fine form and Villa boss Unai Emery preferring a system that uses just one striker, Duran struggled to play consistently despite scoring some crucial goals for the team.

However, the start of this new season suggests that Emery is willing to give him more minutes, and with Watkins having not played a part in pre-season due to an extended holiday after the European Championships, he is certainly off the pace and Duran has made the most of his opportunities. Fans are now calling for Duran to start Villa's next game against Everton.

What has happened to Ollie Watkins?

The man who provided one of England's most joyous moments at this summer's European Championships with his semi-final winning goal against Netherlands has now gone eight Premier League games without a goal. As a result of being part of a squad that made the tournament's final, Watkins was given an extended break and therefore missed the vast majority of Villa's pre-season. This has meant Watkins has started the new season slightly off the pace and has missed several chances to score in the last couple of games. Villa skipper McGinn is confident that he will find his form:

""Of course, he will be scoring soon. We had a lot of people involved in competitions in the summer, and with some of us, it takes different times to get going and get into a rhythm.""

Watkins scored 27 goals in all competitions last season. It did however take the former Exeter City and Brentford man six games to score his first goal last season which will ease any worries that Watkins will struggle to repeat last season's heroics.

UTV