There’s an obvious first reaction to the news of Jhon Duran joining Al Nassr from Aston Villa for $79.95million. To go from the Premier League to the Saudi Pro League at 21 years old is a surprising turn of events. Duran’s drastic rise as a player after less than a year in England made him the top transfer target for some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Largely lost in the fervor of his shock move to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mané? His brief stint with Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire.
In American soccer circles, Duran’s time in MLS and subsequent rapid rise as a Premier League star at Villa are viewed as part of a proof of concept that MLS can attract, develop and sell some of the world’s best young players. Still, Duran’s whirlwind road to stardom has come so fast that his stay in Chicago feels like a distant memory. Duran was signed by Chicago as a 17-year-old phenom in 2021, then joined the MLS side as a under-22 initiative signing when he turned 18 a year later. That squad-building mechanism, introduced in 2021, was implemented to encourage MLS clubs to acquire and develop younger players.
Duran made 27 appearances and scored eight goals during his lone season in the Windy City. For the Fire and the league itself (which administers all player contracts), he turned out to be a massive success financially. Chicago will receive $8.7million (£7m) from a 15 percent sell-on fee administered to Villa’s profit. Villa had paid Chicago $18million (plus add-ons) for Duran, which makes Duran a $31million total outbound transfer for MLS, a new record. It’s a unique case, as many of the league’s under-22 signings have resulted in poor business. Colombian side Envigado will receive nearly $2million in solidarity payments.
Sebastian Pelzer was Chicago’s technical director when Duran was signed. A visit to Envigado in 2020 to scout a center back turned into an unexpected discovery of a potential grand slam signing. Coincidentally, Duran entered the pitch as a substitute, as he did so often for Villa while vying for playing time with England forward Ollie Watkins, and Pelzer was immediately struck by the youngster. He tells The Athletic that Duran’s ability to adapt to the Premier League hasn’t surprised him. His sudden emergence as one of Europe’s top strikers, though, has.
“I’m surprised that it’s happened so fast. That’s the only thing that surprises me,” says Pelzer, now the chief sports officer at Swiss club Lugano. “When I saw him the first time, I said to the people in Chicago, ‘Look, he has the potential to play in England,’ because I’ve experienced that. I’ve experienced it from my time playing in Blackburn. I know what it takes to be there. And you could see this 16-year-old kid coming off the bench — the way he entered the field was quite impressive with his physique, his speed and everything.”
Duran went from MLS to international stardom with stunning speed. (Fred Kfoury III / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Duran became Chicago’s pet project. They helped him adapt to American culture, including the frigid temperatures of a Chicago winter. Pelzer and the sporting department scheduled individual training sessions for Duran to prepare him for the fast-paced nature of MLS play. Duran, on occasion, wouldn’t show up. He was a typical teenager with his own illusions of immortality. Duran didn’t lack any confidence and clearly still doesn’t. One Chicago staffer described Duran as having “delusional self-confidence” upon his arrival to MLS.
“It was also difficult for Jhon at first to adapt to the United States, and it took quite a bit until he really entered the field,” Pelzer says. “He played four months for us and impressed everyone during those four months.”
Duran was convinced — and let those around him know it — that he would be playing in Europe sooner than later, even before he had played a minute in MLS. He carried himself like a seasoned celebrity unaffected by his own naivete. That conviction led to a peculiar nickname during Duran’s time in Chicago. He became known to at least one staffer as “Balotelli,” after the controversial and enigmatic Italian striker.
“He’s still 21, and people try to forget that these players are still young,” Pelzer says. “They make mistakes, and some are growing up faster, others are not. As a young player, he also had a lot of people around him, and we tried to manage that well. I don’t know the current management team around Jhon now, but at the time there in Chicago, we tried to help him as much as we could.”
He’s had his incidents of indiscipline, naturally. The stomp and red card against Newcastle, whether subjective or not, was deemed a poor moment for Duran. The Athletic’s Simon Johnson reported that Chelsea backed off from signing Duran last summer due to concerns about his character. In Colombia, it was reported but not confirmed that Duran was expected to start against Chile in a World Cup qualifying match in October. According to prominent Colombian journalist Carlos Antonio Velez, manager Nestor Lorenzo left Duran on the bench due to some form of misconduct.
Duran now counts Cristiano Ronaldo as a teammate. (Abdullah Ahmed / Getty Images)
“I’ve said it a thousand times that (Duran) will be one of the best strikers in the world in two years, but right now the starter is (Jhon) Cordoba,” Velez told Planeta Futbol in October. “I don’t want to elaborate because what (Duran) has to understand is that he’s on his way to becoming a star and it would be good to maintain certain behaviors that don’t affect his football. He shouldn’t engage in the imperfections that have cost so many Colombian players their careers.”
Lorenzo did not address that report after Colombia’s 4-0 win over Chile. Duran came on in the 46th minute and scored Colombia’s third goal with seven minutes to go. It was his first international goal. His personality, his arrogance — or, perhaps, self-belief — has been a crucial factor in his ability to navigate top-flight football so well at such an early age. Duran’s an extrovert — larger than life, one could say. And he has shown an incredible knack for delivering on the pitch.
Duran scored 12 goals in 29 appearances for Villa this season. He’s not the outright starting No. 9 for Colombia yet, though. Even if he is widely considered the best Colombian center forward in football, there is competition with more experienced players for that role. Duran has, however, gradually earned his place with his national team. Money and fame are now two realities that will follow Duran for the remainder of his career.
GO DEEPER
Talented but temperamental: Duran’s Villa spell has been eventful – €77m was too good to refuse
His former youth coach at Envigado, Wilberth Perea, believes Duran has the potential to play for Real Madrid and that having been the focus of the current transfer window is a confirmation of what Perea believed the first day he began to work with his former pupil. “I knew that when I insisted on moving him from the wing to the No. 9 that he was going to be one of the best in the world,” Perea told The Athletic.
Perea adds that those around Duran, including officials and coaches at any club he plays for in the future, must “support and embrace Jhon.” “He’s matured a lot,” Perea says. “Aston Villa has provided an important support system for him, which has impacted his performances. Every time we talk, I can see how much he has matured and grown based on the sociocultural environment that he has been exposed to. But I’ll reiterate that he needs to be supported. He needs to be given confidence.”
Perea sees Duran’s move to Al Nassr as “spectacular” due to the set-for-life money he will receive. Duran received $5,000 a month from the Fire while still living in Colombia to sustain himself before joining the club, which would have felt like a staggering sum for a teenager at the time. Now, he’ll earn around a million dollars per month. Tax free.
Unai Emery juggled Ollie Watkins and Duran as his star strikers. (Shaun Botterill / Getty Images)
Duran will grow as a player, Perea says, because of the opportunity to learn from high-level professionals like former Liverpool star Mané and Ronaldo, “but he’ll experience things (in Saudi Arabia) that will contribute to his ongoing growth as a player.” Perea adds, though, that he would’ve liked to see Duran at an elite European club one year before the next World Cup.
Former Villa coach Unai Emery agrees. He envisioned a long-term future for him at the club, but the offer was too good to refuse.
“You know my opinion on him,” Emery says. “A fantastic player. A fantastic potential player. I was always trying to get him with my advice. I was so, so close with him, trying to work with him for his development. But the player has their own objective, own ambition.”
Duran’s journey from Envigado to MLS and from the Premier League to Saudi Arabia will lead to discussions about player development and player acquisition strategies around the world. In Duran’s case, we’ll soon find out if the precipitous drop from Champions League football to a developmental league will extinguish a promising career or if raw talent is enough to sustain personal success.
(Top photo: Michael Steele / Getty Images)
