Boss explains why West Ham and Chelsea missed out on £50m star, Hammers' £30m bid not 'significant' enough

Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain be warned; Until Aston Villa receive the sort of eye-watering fee they are looking for, there will be no sale.

Both Chelsea and West Ham United found that out during the summer of 2024.

And with every goal Jhon Duran scores, with every match-winning cameo appearance off the bench, the striker’s existing £50 million price-tag increases by the week.

TBR understands that £50 million is the fee Aston Villa wanted for Colombia international Duran before the transfer window closed on August 30th.

Chelsea and West Ham both agreed terms in principle with the former Chicago Fire starlet. But that was the easy bit. Agreeing terms with Aston Villa was a far greater challenge.

An obstacle that, by the end of the market, had proven to be unsurmountable even as the London duo went down to the wire in their attempts to lure tempt Villa into a sale.

Monchi explains why Aston Villa did not sell Jhon Duran

The Midland giants would not budge, and thank god they didn’t. Duran is just two goals away from matching last season’s tally.

And with Ollie Watkins enduring a few off nights in the opening weeks of 2024/25, the heroics of their supersub centre-forward has already earned Villa a handful of wins that might otherwise have been beyond them.

After netting late winners against Everton and, ironically enough, West Ham, Duran stepped off the bench to lob Manuel Neuer as Aston Villa stunned Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

“We have two very strong strikers; him and Watkins,” Monchi, Aston Villa’s President of Football Operations, tells Sky Italia. “Duran wanted to play more minutes and we needed to sell a player for FFP reasons.

“But, without a significant offer, we were convinced he would stay here.”

HITC reported in July that West Ham put forward a bid of £30 million for Jhon Duran. The Hammers were willing to offer teenage midfielder Lewis Orford in exchange.

“Emery has a lot of faith in him,” former Sevilla and Roma chief Monchi adds. “Some offers have arrived. There have been meetings. But the amount we were asking for has not arrived.”

Chelsea and West Ham United missed out on in-form Duran

TBR understands that Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich themselves have joined the race for Aston Villa’s number 20 in recent weeks.

It would come as little surprise to see Chelsea pick up where they left off in August too. Despite an impressive start to the campaign for the oft-maligned Nicholas Jackson, Chelsea continue to pursue centre-forwards including Viktor Gyokeres of Sporting Lisbon.

“Jhon Duran has a long-term contract,” Jonathan Herrera, Duran’s agent, told Caracol at the start of the summer.

“The interest (from Chelsea) has always existed. The fact that Mauricio Pochettino leaves the club (should not affect what happens). The one who wants him, in the end, is the club. There has always been an interest.”

Duran, although he has never been more central to Emery’s plans, has continued to find starts hard to come by.

With Watkins still Aston Villa’s number one striker, Duran’s tally of six goals is made all the more impressive when you consider that his only start this term has come in the EFL Cup against Wycombe Wanderers.