Jhon Duran speaks out on future after Arsenal ask Aston Villa about transfer

Jhon Duran has distanced himself from rumours of a possible move to Arsenal, insisting he is ‘happy to be’ an Aston Villa player.

The 20-year-old has enjoyed an eye-catching start to the campaign with Villa, despite playing second fiddle to England striker Ollie Watkins for the most part.

Making just four starts in all competitions, the young Colombian boasts an impressive tally of ten goals – the latest coming in Villa’s Champions League win at RB Leipzig on Tuesday night.

It comes after a summer of intense speculation surrounding Duran’s future, with West Ham believed to have launched an unsuccessful £30million offer – plus Lewis Orford – for the forward towards the end of the window.

Arsenal have also been credited with a strong interest in Duran and reports emanating out of Colombia in October claimed the Gunners had approached Villa over a potential bid for the former Chicago Fire star this winter.

However, Villa are in no hurry to part with Duran and have slapped a £75million price tag on the young attacker, who recently extended his contract until 2030.

‘I’m just happy to be here. I actually love the competition I have going with Ollie Watkins,’ Duran told Villa’s official website after the side’s 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig.

‘When it’s my turn, I will step up, and hopefully I can score and help the team.’

Duran was pleased to play his part as Villa further strengthened their hopes of securing passage to the Champions League knockout phase.

‘We worked hard as a team, and, well, that’s my job, to score,’ he added.

‘That’s what I work hard to do, but the main thing is three points away from home, and that’s what we got today.

‘We’re so happy to be where we are in the standings right now. We’ve got to win the next game and we’re almost through, so we’re delighted about that.’

Villa chief Monchi revealed recently that as many as 40 clubs explored the possibility of signing Duran in the summer.

‘We have two very strong strikers, him and Watkins,’ he told Sky Italia.

‘Duran wanted to play more minutes, and we needed to sell a player due to FFP, but without an important offer we were convinced he would stay here.

‘Emery has a lot of faith in him: some offers have arrived, there were meetings, but the amount we asked for did not arrive.’

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