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It is pretty unusual for a player to celebrate scoring the winner by saying sorry to his own fans but Jhon Duran is not your average footballer.
Duran has spent much of the summer trying to force a move from Aston Villa to West Ham, even crossing his hands – a clear nod to the two hammers on West Ham’s club crest – live on his social media channels three weeks ago, all while under contract at Villa Park. No wonder Villa skipper John McGinn once called Duran ‘a bit nuts at times’.
Needless to say, Villa fans were furious and Duran was read the riot act by boss Unai Emery. Yet after trying – and failing – to shift Duran for most of 2024, Emery turned to him after the rusty Ollie Watkins ran out of steam on the hour mark.
Nothing would surprise you with Duran. If this ended up being his final act in a Villa shirt, nobody would be particularly shocked – though cameos like these suggest he is worth bothering with, though. As well as the goal, Duran moved intelligently and held the ball well under pressure.
Jhon Duran scored the winner for Aston Villa against West Ham – the very same club that he had been pushing to join earlier during the summer transfer window
Duran appeared to apologise to Villa fans as he celebrated his goal, which came just minutes from time
In a prior video he was seen doing the ‘irons’ sign with his hands – associated with West Ham
A year ago, an experienced sporting director told Mail Sport he believed Duran had the talent to become the world’s best centre-forward. He can certainly lend a hand when Villa take on Europe’s finest this season though the only Champions League quality on show here was provided by Mohammed Kudus. The West Ham attacker did not deserve to finish on the losing side and has the talent to be one of the stars of the season.
With all but three of the clubs’ summer signings left out of the starting XIs, there was a familiar look to both teams – though West Ham’s defence somehow allowed the 6ft 5ins Amadou Onana to go missing inside their box.
After Tomas Soucek had gone close at the other end, Onana peeled away from Michail Antonio and from barely six yards, was able to rise unchallenged and power Youri Tielemans’ corner beyond Alphonse Areola.
Onana celebrated provocatively in front of the home fans as his side took instant control. The £50million signing from Everton then showed his aerial ability at the other end by heading away a dangerous cross from new Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen.
Villa continued to threaten. Drifting back towards midfield, Morgan Rogers turned and drove past West Ham debutant Max Kilman before drawing a smart stop from Areola. Nothing was working for the home side at this stage as Antonio, under no pressure, smashed Vladimir Coufal’s throw-in straight out of play.
By now Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui was out of his technical area and barking instructions at Bowen – but the message wasn’t getting through and Villa should have gone 2-0 up soon after the 20-minute mark.
Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos did not deal with Matty Cash’s long ball and with Areola in no-man’s land, Bailey hit the outside of the post from a tricky angle – though had he squared, Ollie Watkins would have had a tap-in.
West Ham tried to respond as Lucas Digne did just enough to stop Soucek heading home Mohammed Kudus’ cross – though John McGinn came even closer for Villa. After Rogers had made another impressive raid, the skipper sidefooted wide after Coufal had blocked his first attempt.
Julen Lopetegui got off to a losing start after taking over as manager of West Ham this summer
Amadou Onana opened the scoring with a bullet header from a header from close range
West Ham somehow let the 6ft 5in midfielder break away inside the penalty box to head in
You always felt Villa would be punished for these errors and sure enough, West Ham were level 10 minutes before the break. Cash was ruled to have brought down Soucek and after a brief VAR check, Paqueta won the stare-off with Martinez and sent the Argentine the wrong way from the spot.
Until then Paqueta had cut a frustrated figure, dropping deeper and deeper to collect possession, but he was nerveless when it mattered. West Ham took heart from that and Martinez made a sharp save at his near post from Emerson’s low drive.
Kudus was giving Cash a difficult day and early in the second half, he twisted past the full-back and produced a spectacular ‘rabona’ cross that caught Digne napping, though the Frenchman recovered to block Soucek’s effort.
Villa were always dangerous with space to run into and Areola had to be at his sharpest to keep out Rogers’ volley when Tielemans’ initial strike was blocked.
Lucas Paqueta had equalised after a controversial penalty surrounding Matty Cash and Tomas Soucek
The decision went to a VAR review which was not overturned to Villa players’ frustrations
Duran scored the late winner though there is still no certainty on his future at Villa Park
That is despite him appearing to suggest that he is going nowhere to the travelling fans
Soucek then came within inches of helping rescue a point for his side extremely late on
In his first proper appearance since Euro 2024, Watkins understandably looked well short of his best and after an hour was replaced by Jhon Duran, the Colombian forward who has spent much of the summer trying to join West Ham.
At the other end, Antonio headed Coufal’s cross over.
Three minutes after coming on, Duran wasted a glorious opportunity by firing Digne’s pass into the side net when he could have presented fellow sub Jacob Ramsey with an open goal.
Then came the redemption story. Ian Maatsen, another substitute, found Ramsey inside the box and his clever first-time pass was slammed beyond Areola by Duran.
Martinez ensured Villa took the points with a fine late save from sub Danny Ings.
And in stoppage time, another cross from Kudus saw Soucek’s effort blocked on the line by Konsa and Soucek sliced the rebound over.
