Jhon Jáder Durán’s uncle has revealed how he once had to intervene with the striker as a child, after the Aston Villa man made comments about an ‘enemy’.
Oswaldo ‘Sombra’ Durán has been speaking to Gol Caracol about the Aston Villa man and his upbringing, which it seems also involved controversy.
Durán is very much the rising star at Aston Villa this season, with a series of impressive performances and a record of five goals in eight games in all competitions despite being a substitute under Unai Emery.
This season appears to be the one in which he will be fully emerge, but it started on a negative front after a busy summer transfer window.
He was targeted by West Ham in the summer and made it clear he wanted the move during the process, controversially posting on social media and even deleting references to Aston Villa.
It’s not the first time Durán has made comments, and his uncle admits he even had to intervene when he was a youngster.
“That boy made a derogatory comment about him, and I had to confront him. It is a problem that one gets older at 60 years old, but these children must be corrected, and they will surely comply.
“If one criticises openly, he will be more rebellious. The role that I had to do at the time, I already did, as an uncle, as a trainer and as a person who was close to his growth.”
The reality, is, though, that Durán is undoubtedly a top talent in the making, which has left his uncle and everyone else willing to make allowances.
Oswaldo is more than aware of the striker’s potential, having once nearly been left in financial ruin by a bet he made with him.
“I remember that once we went to the first concentration of the Colombian U-17 National Team, when I was just 15 years old,” he said.
“He couldn’t afford the tickets, so I approached him and in the middle of that, he told me that he wanted to be like Ronaldo, that he was strong. I saw him as skinny and what I emphasised most was that he eat and take protein.
“I remember that there was a time when I motivated him financially to score goals and in a final, I told him that if he scored one goal I would give him 50,000, if he scored two, I would give him 100,000 and from then on I would give him 200,000.
“I couldn’t stay in the game, but when it was over he called me and told me, ‘man, I scored six goals.’ It almost left me without pay (laughs).”
