West Ham United chased Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran throughout the summer, and we could move for him again it seems.
There’s very good news indeed for West Ham regarding the fee needed to sign Jhon Duran , but bad news as well, with Newcastle entering the race for the Aston Villa hitman.
At one point in the summer, it seemed for all the world that the 20-year-old Colombian would join the Hammers, especially after he did the ‘crossed hammers’ sign during a live stream.
Julen Lopetegui and Tim Steidten desperately tried to bring Jhon Duran to West Ham earlier on in the summer transfer window, and a deal was very close to happening.
However, the Hammers refused to meet Villa’s £40 million demands for the Colombia international in the end.
West Ham were unwilling to pay more than £32 million for Jhon Duran and decided to sign Niclas Fullkrug instead.
That now looks like a catastrophic error from the Hammers, but the door may well have just swung wide open again for us.
Amazing Jhon Duran twist means door still open for West Ham
The 20-year-old forward has been in electric form for the Villans so far this season.Duran has bagged four goals in five Premier League games so far this season, and he’s only played 131 minutes!
Missing out on him looks like a monumental mistake from the Hammers, but it seems like Lopetegui and Steidten may well be able to rectify that error.
According to a report from Give Me Sport, Aston Villa are still willing to sell Jhon Duran for £40 million.
That’s obviously great news for the Hammers, but the bad news is that Newcastle have apparently thrown their hat into the ring for his signature as well.
Now, with the Magpies in the race, it will obviously be harder to sign him than it was in the summer.
However, Duran clearly had his heart set on a move to the London Stadium only last month. So we can surely make this one happen now either in January or next summer.
Jhon Duran would take West Ham to another level
The 20-year-old possesses blistering pace, incredible movement and is a lethal finisher in front of goal.
There’s no doubt in my mind that we should have signed Duran over Fullkrug in the summer.
£40 million for a somewhat unproven 20-year-old sounded like a lot of money at the time, but it would represent an incredible deal for us now.
I have no doubts in my mind that he will be worth £100 million or more in a few year’s time.
Jhon Duran has absolutely everything that we currently lack at West Ham right now.
After the new report from GMS, the Hammers should be going all out to sign him in January. Whether or not we’re able to beat Newcastle in the race to his signature remains to be seen though.