Aston Villa striker Duran helped his side to a 1-0 home win over Bayern in the 2nd round of the Champions League 3 days ago with a brilliant dribbling shot, which put the 20-year-old Colombian player in the spotlight. And tonight, Duran is expected to make his debut against Manchester United. According to the Mirror, United's senior management expressed a strong interest in the starlet two years ago.
United scouts had noticed Duran's talent back when he was playing for Envigado in the Colombian league and continued to follow him.In 2022, United took an in-depth look at Duran and had inquired about an offer from the Chicago Fire, the team he was playing for at the time, but the Flames offered a fee of around £10 million.
However, with a number of clubs including Fulham, Atletico Madrid and Benfica on board, Duran's price tag has risen. Meanwhile, United spent £225 million on reinforcements in the summer of 2022, including the signings of winger Anthony and midfielder Casemiro at inflated prices, which led them to shelve their interest in Duran for the time being due to fears of breaching Financial Fair Play regulations.
United admitted at the time that they could not come up with any more large sums of money, and therefore opted to sign players such as Bartrand, Sabitzer and Weghorst on loan. In addition, United were skeptical about the prospect of Duran moving from Major League Soccer to the Premier League, believing that even if he were to sign, he would struggle to break into the first-team squad immediately.
In contrast, Aston Villa are confident in Duran's ability. They signed the Colombian international from Chicago Fire for £18m in January 2023 and believed he could thrive on the bench at Watkins. Now it looks like that decision has paid off for Villa.
So far this season, Duran has scored six goals in nine appearances for Villa in all competitions, racking up 290 minutes on the pitch. Manchester United's high-priced signing winger Anthony, on the other hand, has only played 119 minutes and scored one goal in three matches. Villa are currently 5th in the Premier League table, while United are 14th (7th from bottom, considering there are 20 teams in the league).
