'Hot-headed' Jhon Duran's Saudi move tipped to go 'spectacularly wrong' as former Aston Villa star claims 'no tears will be shed' over striker's controversial big-money transfer

The Colombia international has completed a €77 million (£65m/$80m) switch to Al-Nassr and will reportedly be earning £17m ($21m) a year while playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. Questions have been asked of why the South American has headed to the Middle East at just 21 years of age.

He had been enjoying a productive season at Villa, with 12 goals recorded through 29 appearances – including a memorable Champions League winner against Bayern Munich. The opportunity to learn from CR7 while setting himself up for life financially was, however, too good to turn down.

Ex-Villa striker Stan Collymore says a divisive character will not be overly missed in the West Midlands. He told GOAL, while speaking in association with William Hill Vegas, when asked if Duran’s big career call is understandable: “From the money perspective, yes. As a Villa fan, somebody who goes half-a-dozen times this season to watch with mates, the conversation before he had this amazing start to the season in some very big games, was that – the rumours were – he is very hot-headed, he wasn’t great in training and Villa, if they could get £40-50m for him, they would be more than happy to let him go.

“There was all the stuff with West Ham, doing the crossed-arms Irons and all that stuff. Villa fans wanted him out. They were like ‘who is this guy, let’s get rid’. Then the goalscoring return – which was exceptional in 10-12 games – for the younger cohorts of Villa fans – Ollie Watkins has been at the club a little while now – they wanted their own hero. They found one.

“It wasn’t universal that he was loved at Villa. Everybody thought and knew that when something better came along, he would biff Villa off.”

Collymore, who spent two years with his boyhood club between 1997 and 1999, added on Duran: “I think the fact that he wasn’t going to be happy with being a substitute forever means the money that Villa got was good. It wasn’t going to a rival. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s back in Europe within a year and it’s all gone spectacularly wrong, or two years.

“I understand it but it’s a strange one when a player scores eight, nine spectacular goals – including in the Champions League – you think we want to do everything we can to keep him. But if you asked the vast majority of Villa fans, they would say ‘great talent, very unpredictable, could upset the apple cart’.

“We have got players coming in now that are proven at that level, need dusting off a bit – [Marcus] Rashford, [Marco] Asensio. Very strange one in the case of a player that has done very well in a short space of time, but no tears will be shed at him leaving.”

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Duran joined Villa for around £15m ($19m) from MLS side the Chicago Fire in January 2023, so they made a tidy profit on him across two years given that he only made seven Premier League starts in that time. It remains to be seen how long he will spend in Riyadh before looking for a return to Europe, with a contract signed through to 2030.