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West Ham make bid for Aston Villa star who is open to leaving
TBR Football can exclusively reveal that West Ham United submitted a bid for Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran last week.
Duran, who has netted 12 goals in 26 appearances for Aston Villa this season, has been on West Ham’s wishlist for some time now.
Despite signing a new contract at Villa Park recently, speculation over Duran’s future has refused to go away.
Paris Saint-Germain wanted Duran in a swap deal, a striker whose potential is grabbing interest across Europe.
On their part, West Ham are desperately looking to bolster their attacking ranks this month, and submitted an offer for Duran last week as a result.
Aston Villa reject West Ham bid for Jhon Duran
TBR Football chief correspondent Graeme Bailey understands that Aston Villa rejected West Ham’s bid for Duran, which fell well short of the price it would take to sign the Colombian.
West Ham nearly bought Duran in the summer but would not go above a figure of £30m for his services.
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The Hammers’ new offer was in excess of that figure, but TBR are told that their bid was ‘miles away’ from Villa’s valuation.
In order to allow the 21-year-old to leave the club this month, Villa would require a deal totalling more than £60m.
Duran wants to be a first-choice striker, explaining why he would be prepared to leave Villa Park.
And in terms of West Ham’s interest in Duran, the striker would be open to a move to the London Stadium.
Duran has only started four Premier League games for Villa this season
Speaking in December after scoring against RB Leipzig in the Champions League, Duran publicly declared that he was ‘happy’ to be a Villa player.
The striker spoke about his healthy competition with Ollie Watkins at Villa, a situation which is ideal for the club but perhaps not for Duran, at least behind the scenes.
Speaking in the wake of links away, Duran said: “I’m just happy to be here. I actually love the competition I have going with Ollie Watkins.
“When it’s my turn, I will step up, and hopefully I can score and help the team.”
Despite scoring seven Premier League goals for Villa this season, Duran has been limited to just four league starts.
And were he to make the switch to east London, the Colombian would certainly come in as Graham Potter’s starting number nine, especially given Niclas Fullkrug’s untimely injury.