Aston Villa have got a long history of unleashing deadly strikers at the club throughout the Premier League era. Of course, one of those is playing in Claret and Blue now, namely Ollie Watkins.
The England international has scored 75 goals and has 29 assists in 184 games. Going back a bit further, there was Christian Benteke. The Belgian marksman scored 49 goals and had 13 assists to his name in just 101 games.
In the 1990s, Dwight Yorke was the main man up front at Villa Park. He was sensational for the club, and his form earned him a big move to Manchester United in 1998, where he won the treble. Dion Dublin was his replacement, and the Englishman was just as clinical in front of goal.
Next in line for that list of esteemed Villa strikers could well be Jhon Duran, who is on fire at Villa Park this term.
Duran’s Villa career
Duran’s rise to the top at Villa Park has been nothing short of astronomical. The 20-year-old joined the club in the winter transfer window of 2023, in a deal worth £18m from MLS side Chicago Fire.
So far, the young striker has played 66 games in that famous Claret and Blue shirt, scoring 16 goals. Whilst that might not seem a lot on the face of it, it is important to reference the fact Duran has played just 1834 minutes. That equates to just 20.3 full 90 minute games, meaning on average he scores almost one goal per 90 minutes.
He is yet to start in the top flight this term, having started just three times in the Premier League across his whole Villa career. Thus, the centre-forward, who has four goals in 11 league matches so far this season, has earned himself a reputation as a super-sub. In fact, of the eight goals he has in all competitions, Duran has scored only three as a starter.
The Colombian knows how to put on a show. He has scored some spectacular goals this term, including one against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a lob over Manuel Neuer’s head from just inside the penalty area, and a screamer against Everton from distance.
As good as Duran is, there may be a bit of regret at the club that another talented striker did not make it at Villa
Aston Villa’s original Jhon Duran
The player in question here is centre-forward Keinan Davis. The 26-year-old – who is also a towering, left-footed striker like Duran at 6 foot 3 – came through the ranks at Villa Park after joining from non-league side Biggleswade, with the early signs certainly looking promising.
In 2017, ESPN broke the news that Davis, who was 19 years of age at the time, was wanted by some of the biggest clubs in English football. The report suggested that Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton, amongst others, were tracking the youngster, who was ‘highly regarded at Villa Park’.
The Stevenage-born marksman – who scored ten goals in 36 games at U21 level for the Villans – even made his first-team debut for the club at the age of just 18, while later earning notable praise from teammate Jack Grealish, who called him “absolutely unplayable” in training.
The praise went even further, with former Villa star Alan Hutton stating in 2020 that Davis has “everything to be a top centre-forward“, even if his role was somewhat limited.
Sadly, things did not quite work out for the centre-forward at the Villans. Over a span of five seasons, the attacker made 86 appearances, scoring six goals and grabbing seven assists in that time, managing just one goal in the Premier League, in 2020/21.
Davis stats by season for Villa | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Season | Games | Goals | Assists |
2016/17 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
2017/18 | 30 | 3 | 4 |
2018/19 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
2019/20 | 23 | 1 | 1 |
2020/21 | 18 | 2 | 2 |
Stats from Transfermarkt | |||
Following reasonably successful loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Watford, who were both Championship clubs at the time, Davis made the move permanently away from Villa Park in 2023, with Unai Emery in charge of the club. Like with Duran in the present day to some degree, the challenge of ousting Watkins as the leading man in attack was ultimately too much.
As reported by The Athletic, he joined Udinese in Serie A for just £2m, in a deal which included a sell-on clause of between 15% and 20%
Sadly, Davis has struggled with injury in Italy. The striker has played just 22 times for I Bianconeri, scoring three goals in that time, albeit while registering three goal involvements in 14 games this season.
It must surely be disappointing for Villa fans to look back on his time at the club and wonder just what could have been if he had managed to live up to all that early hype.
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Aston Villa signing who cost more than Duran is now in Turkey’s 2nd tier
Aston Villa did not have the best of luck when they splashed the cash on this centre-forward.
