On July 24th, Aston Villa striker Jhon Durán’s agent Jonathan Herrera revealed that West Ham United have “great interest” in his client.
Later that day, the 20-year-old said he’s flattered with transfer links and is waiting to see if there’ll be anything concrete to leave Aston Villa this summer.
Colombian journalist Pipe Sierra claims the negotiations between West Ham and Aston Villa were advanced at one point, but then stalled.
He says Unai Emery’s side earlier wanted €35m for the player before raising the asking price to €40m.
Sierra hasn’t taken into account that West Ham have strengthened their attack by signing German striker Niclas Füllkrug from Borussia Dortmund. This is likely the reason why they are no longer keen on signing the Colombia international.
Aston Villa seem to have made a U-turn over their stance on Durán as the journalist says they ‘want to retain him’. He adds Emery’s side will hand the player the No.9 shirt next season, which became vacant after Bertrand Traoré’s exit from Villa Park.
Sierra makes no mention of whether Durán wants to continue at Aston Villa, after he and his agent publicly talked about the possibility of leaving the club in this window.
It’s worth noting Durán is represented by the same agent as Watford’s Yaser Asprilla, who has seemingly been on a tour of Europe looking for the best wages to leave the Hornets.
