For the first time in his burgeoning career, former Aston Villa sensation, Al Nassr frontman and reported West Ham United target Jhon Duran is finding himself with something of a point to prove.
A club spokesman informed Hammers News last week that West Ham have enquired about Jhon Duran’s availability at the Saudi Pro League outfit.
And while Al Nassr made it clear that the Colombia international will not be leaving the Middle East on loan any time soon, the fact that such speculation exists in the first place is testament to what has been a difficult few months since he left Aston Villa in a hotly-debated, highly-divisive £65 million transfer.
West Ham made a £57 million bid of their own for a striker who had emerged as a leading target at the London Stadium during a number of transfer windows.
Now, while those in charge at Al Nassr have ruled out a temporary return to the Premier League, the feeling is that Jhon Duran is a 21-year-old footballer in need of a helping hand after a year of dizzying highs and contentious lows.
Colombia legend Tino Asprilla defends West Ham United target Jhon Duran
Heavily criticised for his decision to leave Aston Villa for Saudi Arabia just as he was starting to really emerge as a potential superstar of European football, Duran was at the centre of another flashpoint this month.
Albeit a flashpoint which was eventually played down by all involved. Jhon Duran’s early departure from the Colombian national team was the result of a back injury, rather than a reported fall-out with coach Nestor Lorenzo.
The madcap former Newcastle United hero Tino Asprilla knows how it feels to have your flaws and your personality obsessively discussed by the media, though, and he feels that Duran needs all the help he can get as the youngster looks to get the critics off his back.
“Duran is still a very young man, and he’s experiencing things you don’t [normally] experience at that age,” Asprilla, a man renowned throughout his playing career for a supposedly ‘bad boy’ image, tells El Tiempo.
“To be a footballer who cost 77 million euros at 21, earning 25 million euros, meaning you’ve already secured your life… No one is prepared for those things.
“Your head has to go a little crazy, especially when this kid has shown he has a temperament unlike anyone else’s. We have to find a way to understand him because he still has time to correct many behaviours, but we have to help him.
“The people around him have to try to guide him so he can improve.
“He has a huge future and hasn’t even shown 10 per cent of his potential yet. A very complicated situation is developing around that kid. He’s still very young.”
West Ham wanted Duran before Aston Villa sold him to Saudi Arabia
After a slow start to life in the Middle East, Jhon Duran has now struck 12 goals in 18 games even while operating very much in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.
West Ham spent around £50 million on Niclas Fullkrug and Luis Guilherme towards the end of the summer window. As a source speaking on behalf of the club’s owners informed Hammers News, that meant there was no more room in the budget to go all in on Duran.
Twelve months on, unless Al-Nassr change their mind on a potential loan arrangement, it is difficult to imagine that a cash-strapped West Ham outfit will be third time lucky.
“People have also started to doubt his talent and are saying he’s not as good as he seemed,” Asprilla adds, Duran’s stunning, coming-of-age winner against Bayern Munich in the Champions League currently a distant memory.
“He needs to start showing [his worth] on the pitch with goals, like at Aston Villa, where you didn’t see or read the bad things, just that he was a star.
“I hope he returns to that because he still has time. A player of that calibre, of that quality, any team needs.
“Let him return to his roots. Let him come down from that cloud. Let him think about all the effort he put in to get where he is. He’s just starting out.”
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
