Aston Villa open to offers for Jhon Duran during the January window if club secures a replacement… with the Colombian striker thought to be at odds with Unai Emery over team role

Aston Villa are open to letting Jhon Duran leave the club this month as long as they can secure a suitable replacement.

The Colombian forward started the season in strong style, scoring four times in his opening seven matches, but has seen his opportunities limited as Villa’s first-choice centre-forward Ollie Watkins has nine goals and eight assists in the league this term.

Duran has admirers in Italy and Spain and Villa would be prepared for him to depart on an initial loan deal, though they recognise the difficulty of finding an alternative in January who could provide solid back-up to Watkins. 

If they cannot do so, Duran is likely to stay at least until the summer, when he could be loaned out or even sold.

Mail Sport also understands Duran has not always seen eye to eye with Villa boss Unai Emery. 

The ex-Chicago Fire striker has been unable to muscle out a ruthlessly in-form Ollie Watkins

The 20-year-old was taken off at half-time in games against Everton in the Carabao Cup in September and Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League in October and is thought to have expressed his frustration at those decisions. He also deleted references to Villa from his social media accounts.

Duran joined Villa from Chicago Fire a year ago and though Emery approved the deal, it was driven by Johan Lange, who has since left his role as sporting director for a similar role at Tottenham.

Mail Sport believes that Duran and manager Unai Emery have not had an easy relationship

Asked in October whether there had been a disagreement with Duran, Emery said: ‘We have to support and to help him every day trying to focus him on only football each training session on how he can improve.

‘How he can progress with us. I am not here to control the social media for each individual player and I asked him about it.’