Jhon Duran could reportedly leave Aston Villa during the transfer window after the club showed a willingness to listen to offers. According to the Daily Mail, Duran hasn’t always seen eye to eye with manager Unai Emery, particularly after being substituted in certain games.
That may be part of the reason why Villa are open to the idea of letting him leave, with Serie A giants AC Milan interested, but before they do that, they must have a suitable replacement lined up. Duran may be second-choice in the pecking order to Ollie Watkins, but he’s still played 21 games this season, coming off the bench 13 times in the Premier League and starting five matches in cup competitions. Villa will need to fill a 563-minute hole – and it looks like Emery may have a player in mind to do just that
Iheanacho could replace Duran
Football Insider’s Wayne Veysey reports that recruiting a new forward is “the top priority” for Emery, and says Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho is “among the targets”.
The plan for Villa is to clear some room in the squad by selling players or loaning them out, and then ideally recruit two new first-team stars before the end of the window. RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner was also mentioned as a candidate, but Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg says Spurs are closing in on that particular signing.
Iheanacho could be Villa’s Firmino
After breaking through at Manchester City and hitting 21 goals in 64 appearances for the club, Pep Guardiola sold Iheanacho to Leicester in 2017 for a fee of £25m. He’s gone on to score 61 times and set up 35 more in his 227 games for the Foxes, with Guardiola celebrating his “incredible” progress back in 2021.
In the Championship this year, Iheanacho has been directly involved in eight goals (six scored, two assisted), but he’s been in and out of Enzo Maresca’s team in the league, starting only ten of their games up to this point. Significantly, he’s out of contract at the end of the season, so suitors like Villa may spy an opportunity to either sign him on a cut-price deal now or wait until the summer to snap him up on a free transfer.
When assessing Iheanacho, the big attraction is his all-round game. While his goalscoring numbers at the King Power Stadium are respectable, his contribution extends far beyond that. When compared to positional peers in similar leagues over the last 365 days (as per FBref), Iheanacho ranks in the 92nd percentile for expected assisted goals per 90 minutes (0.2), which points to his effectiveness as a creator.
Most notably, he sits in the 98th percentile for passes attempted (35.2), highlighting the frequency of his link-up play, and he also scores highly for progressive passes (77th percentile; 2.2) and progressive carries (83rd; 1.8). This shows us that the Nigerian is adept at dropping deep to receive the ball before advancing his team up the pitch.
Stat (per 90)
Ollie Watkins (percentile)
Kelechi Iheanacho (percentile)
Passes attempted
5th
98th
Progressive passes
16th
77th
Progressive carries
51st
83rd
Indeed, back in 2021, a model devised by Real Metric Analysis determined that he was one of the five most similar players to former Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino, of whom “people will write books” about how the Brazilian “interprets the false nine positions”, in the words of Jurgen Klopp (Marca). The comparison, then, is quite the endorsement.
As the table above shows, Ollie Watkins doesn’t score particularly well in any of the aforementioned metrics, so Iheanacho could offer Emery a compelling stylistic alternative.
Jhon Duran could reportedly leave Aston Villa during the transfer window after the club showed a willingness to listen to offers. According to the Daily Mail, Duran hasn’t always seen eye to eye with manager Unai Emery, particularly after being substituted in certain games.
