Aston Villa's rise to prominence in recent seasons has been astonishing, from hanging onto their Premier League status on the final day in 2020 to finishing seventh by the end of the 2022/23 campaign and earning a spot in this season's Europa Conference League group stage.

However, player recruitment has arguably been the most impressive component of Villa's success. It took a couple of years to get right but Villa are now seeing their intelligent acquisitions in the transfer market bearing fruit.

The likes of Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara were signed for relatively cheap and have become mainstays in the first-team.

Nevertheless, the club have also invested in talent for the future and one player in particular is knocking on Unai Emery's door looking for a regular first-team spot.

How much Aston Villa signed Jhon Duran for

The Midlands club managed to win the race for Chicago Fire starlet Jhon Duran last January after the teenage sensation found the net eight times in 27 MLS appearances. Additionally, Duran had registered 14 goal contributions in 28 games in all competitions with the Fire, which is quite an impressive feat for such a young player, and even earned himself three caps for Colombia.

Duran had been tipped for stardom for a number of years before the striker made his way to Villa Park, having been named on The Guardian's list of the top 60 best youngsters in the world in 2020 during his time with Envigado back home.

English giants Liverpool were even linked with Duran at one point but it was Emery's emerging army that won the race in the end, completing his move to Aston Villa for a fee worth up to £17.5m.

The youngster featured just 12 times in his debut half-season in English football and failed to bag a single goal. However, the Colombian still earned himself huge plaudits from the likes of TV pundit Clinton Morrison, who admitted that Duran looks "outstanding".

Jhon Duran's stats this season

Already this season, Duran has outperformed his tally from the previous term. The 19-year-old has converted four times in 11 appearances under Emery this season, including twice in the Premier League, although Duran has yet to start a single game for Villa in the top flight in the current campaign. All six of his appearances in the league have been as a substitute.

Recently, Duran came off the bench during a home game against Crystal Palace with the game locked at 1-0 to the visitors. The starlet scored a sensational half-volley which sparked a 3-1 comeback for the hosts.

The rest of his goals have come in the Europa League, but it's now time for Emery to start trusting the expensive, young attacker to start games in the league and the Spanish coach could push Duran up the pecking order surprisingly above summer signing Moussa Diaby.

Emery has often opted to deploy a 4-4-2 this season, with Diaby or Leon Bailey being utilised in a front two alongside Ollie Watkins. However, despite Diaby receiving three times more minutes than Duran this season, the latter has scored more goals and has statistically performed better for Villa when it comes to overall threat inside the penalty box.

Goals

1.2

0.24

Expected Goals

0.66

0.25

Assists

0

0.24

Expected Assists

0

0.20

Shots

4.8

2.28

Shots On Target

2

1.1

Key Passes

1

2.05

Touches In Penalty Area

6.5

5.73

Carries In The Final 1/3

1.5

1.2

Stats via FBref.

Duran is more of a goalscorer as opposed to a creator but has been much deadlier in the final third than Diaby this season despite the Frenchman being signed during the summer for £51.9m. Starting Duran would also ease the burden off Watkins to score Villa's goals and could make the Midlands even more potent up top than they already are.