West Ham have had a £57m bid turned down for the Colombian, who joined Villa from MLS side Chicago Fire two years ago in January 2023. Arsenal made contact with Villa to discuss Duran’s availability but no official offer was made by the Gunners. Duran was an unused substitute on Wednesday night as Unai Emery’s side beat Celtic 4-2 in their final Champions League game before the knockouts to secure a top-eight spot alongside Liverpool and Arsenal.
Now according to Fabrizio Romano, Duran has agreed a £64.5m move to Saudi Arabia with a medical scheduled for Thursday. The Italian journalist reported on X late on Wednesday: “Jhon Durán to Al Nassr, here we go! Story from earlier tonight confirmed as documents are being prepared. Aston Villa to receive €77m fixed fee plus add-ons, long term deal accepted by Durán. Medical booked tomorrow and then he will travel to Saudi right after.”
Emery questioned on Duran move
Asked about Duran’s future after their victory over Celtic, Emery strongly hinted that the striker could be on the move. He said: "The club is working, we have to be intelligent and competitive. Of course, we are in the eyes of other strong teams and strong leagues and countries like Saudi Arabia. It is something I can feel proud of because we are improving and we are having players interested from other clubs and paying good money for us.
"Our objective here is to keep our structure intelligently, and [maintaining our level] for a long time is the most difficult challenge we have. Sometimes to do that, we have to sell players, but as well, trying to change those players with good players as well, trying to develop the players here and improving ours.
"I don't know exactly until everything is done if Jhon Duran is leaving or not. If he leaves, it's good news for us, because they are paying good money, because it's good for him, because as well, we have developed a young player in two years to get this offer. It's not only for the club, but it's for the players, and the team -- these circumstances can be positive. I don't know if he's leaving or not."
Emery added: "If he's leaving, it's because he wants to. I told you last week I wanted him here. But what does he want? We are all different people."
Arsenal in for Watkins - will Duran deal impact Gunners pursuit?
On Wednesday night it also emerged Arsenal had a £60m bid rejected by Aston Villa for England international Ollie Watkins. Further reports claim the Gunners are expected to return with an improved offer while Watkins is said to be keen to make the switch to North London.
Watkins is under contract at Villa Park until 2028, having penned fresh terms in October 2023. He joined the Birmingham outfit from Brentford in 2020 for a then club-record fee of £28m. However, with Duran and Watkins competing for the number nine spot at Villa Park, Emery will not want to lose both players with just a few days remaining before the transfer window shuts.
Speaking about Watkins on Wednesday, Emery was adamant about keeping the striker "I don't want [him to leave]. We want to keep our sporting objective through the players we have in the squad. Every player can be in the market in case it's good for the player, club and team, but to get this deal, we have to be very demanding as well. Ollie Watkins is our striker."
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