Watkins ‘INFURIATED’ by Duran: Aston Villa hitman now happier than ever

Tom Weber

Updated: 1 Feb 2025 12:10 CST
4 min read

Ollie Watkins will be delighted that Jhon Duran is no longer at Aston Villa, according to former Premier League striker Darren Bent.

It has been a tumultuous week at Villa Park, with the final days of the January transfer window proving to be more hectic than most would have anticipated.

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On Wednesday, coach Unai Emery and recruitment chief Monchi were given a massive decision to make. While negotiations with Al-Nassr over Jhon Duran were ongoing, Arsenal lodged a surprise €72 million bid for Ollie Watkins.

In the end, Aston Villa decided to sell 21-year-old Duran and keep 29-year-old Watkins. The Birmingham club pocketed a whopping €77m for the former and the deal is thought to be capable of rising to as high as €90m.

Emery, who at times had a tense relationship with the hot-headed Duran, even appeared to take a parting shot at the Colombian when he later said that Watkins had been a consummate professional and was happy to stay, unlikely certain other players.

Watkins delighted over Duran exit?

One of the defining aspects of Duran's time at Villa was his failure to dislodge Watkins as Emery's starting striker. The Spanish coach only rarely showed himself willing to play with two centre-forward and almost always favoured the more proven and hard-working Watkins.

However, this season, Duran won a lot of plaudits as he frequently came off the bench to score crucial goals and it was his reliability in front of the net that ultimately led to his blockbuster transfer.

According to former Villa striker Darren Bent, Watkins will be 'breathing a sigh of relief' that Duran is no longer at the club. "There was no way on this planet, Unai was going to let him go for £60m (€72m)," Bent told Sky Sports.

"We’ve seen how much faith Emery has in Ollie Watkins. We saw it when he first came in, he let Danny Ings go. He did it again with Jhon Duran. How can you only have one centre forward? He believes in Ollie Watkins that much. And his performances for Villa in the Premier League have been exceptional. That’s why he’s gone: ‘Ollie Watkins, you’re my man, I trust in you.’

“A lot of the hard work that Ollie does is that first 70 minutes when he runs himself into the ground. That last 20 minutes for a centre-forward is when you get your reward. Defenders are tired. And that’s when he was coming off. Duran was coming on and taking all the plaudits. Ollie will be thinking that he will get more of a stretch in the team, 90 minutes more and score more.

“But again, when you’ve got someone who comes on and makes an impact every single time like Duran was doing, it’s tough to take, it’s infuriating. But Watkins is reacting really well and he’ll have breathed a sigh of relief that Duran’s not there.”