It’s pretty unusual for a player to celebrate a winning goal by apologising to his own fans, but Jhon Durán isn’t your average footballer.
Duran has spent much of the summer trying to force through a move from Aston Villa to West Ham, even folding 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. Little wonder Villa captain John McGinn once called Duran “a bit crazy at times”.
Needless to say, Villa fans were furious and manager Unai Emery gave Duran the runaround. However, after trying (unsuccessfully) to move Duran on for most of 2024, Emery turned to him after rusty Ollie Watkins ran out of steam on the hour mark.
After Lucas Paqueta’s penalty cancelled out £50m signing Amadou Onana’s goal on his Villa debut, Duran scored the decisive goal 11 minutes from time and, having emerged from congratulations from his team-mates, appeared to be apologising to the visiting fans, as he pointed to the Villa crest and indicated he would be staying after all.
Nothing would surprise anyone with Duran. If this were his last game in a Villa shirt, no one would be particularly surprised, although appearances like these suggest he is worth the trouble of signing. Apart from the goal, Duran moved intelligently and kept the ball well under pressure.
Jhon Durán scored Aston Villa’s winner against West Ham just days after he could have joined the club.
Duran appeared to apologise to the Villa fans as he celebrated his goal, which came just one minute from time.
He was seen making an ‘irons’ sign with his hands, which is associated with West Ham.
A year ago, one senior sporting director told Mail Sport that he believed Duran had the talent to become the best centre-forward in the world. He can certainly help when Villa face Europe’s best this season, although the only player of Champions League quality on show here was Mohammed Kudus. The West Ham attacker did not deserve to end up 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 out of the starting XIs, the look of both teams was familiar, although West Ham’s defence somehow allowed the 1.96m Amadou Onana to disappear inside their area.
After Tomas Soucek went close at the other end, Onana broke clear of Michail Antonio and from just six yards out, 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 of the match. The £50m signing from Everton then demonstrated his aerial prowess at the other end of the pitch by heading clear a dangerous cross from new Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen.
Villa continued to threaten. Morgan Rogers drifted into midfield, turned and outpaced West Ham debutant Max Kilman before being met with a smart save 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 bounds.
By that point, Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui had already emerged from his technical area and was giving instructions to Bowen, but the message was not getting through and Villa should have taken a 2-0 lead shortly after 20 minutes.
Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos were unable to deal with Matty Cash’s long pass and, with Areola in no man’s land, Bailey fired in off the outside of the post from a difficult angle, although had it gone in Ollie Watkins would have had a shot to take home.
West Ham tried to respond and Lucas Digne did just enough to stop Soucek’s header from Mohammed Kudus’ cross, although John McGinn came even closer for Villa. After Rogers made another impressive run, the captain headed wide with his left foot after Coufal had blocked his first attempt.
The result meant that Julen Lopetegui started his tenure as coach of the team with a loss.
Amadou Onana opened the scoring early with a header from point-blank range.
It was always thought that Villa would be punished for these errors and, sure enough, West Ham equalised 10 minutes before the break. Cash was adjudged to have brought down Soucek and, after a brief VAR review, Paqueta won the duel with Martinez and sent the Argentine the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Until then, Paqueta had been looking frustrated, retreating further and further to regain possession but not flustered when needed. West Ham took heart from that and Martinez made a fine save at his near post from Emerson’s low shot.
Kudus was giving Cash a tough day and early in the second half, he got past the full-back and produced a spectacular ‘rabona’ cross that caught Digne napping, although the Frenchman recovered to block Soucek’s shot.
Villa were always dangerous and had space to exploit, and Areola had to be at his sharpest to stop Rogers’ volley when Tielemans’ initial shot was blocked.
Lucas Paqueta had tied the score after a controversial penalty in which Matty Cash and Tomas Soucek intervened
Soucek then came close to helping rescue a point for his side in the final moments.
Making his first competitive appearance since Euro 2024, Watkins understandably looked well below his best and after an hour was replaced by Jhon Durán, the Colombian striker who has spent much of the summer trying to join West Ham.
At the other end, Antonio headed Coufal’s cross over the area.
Three minutes after coming on, Duran squandered a glorious chance by firing Digne’s pass into the side-netting when he could have presented an open goal to fellow substitute Jacob Ramsey.
Then came the story of redemption. Ian Maatsen, another substitute, found Ramsey inside the area and his clever first-time pass was powerfully headed past Areola by Duran.
Martinez ensured Villa took the points with a superb late save from substitute Danny Ings.
And in added time, another Kudus cross saw Soucek’s shot blocked on the line by Konsa and Soucek headed the rebound over the area.