Aston Villa made the decision to part ways with CEO Christian Purslow in June of this year and that opened up the door for former Sevilla chief Monchi to arrive as the club's sporting director.
The Villans made the change behind the scenes after five years of Purslow pulling the strings for the likes of Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard, and Unai Emery.
He enjoyed and endured his fair share of successes and failures in the transfer market throughout his spell at Villa Park but ultimately, left the side in a better position than when he found it as they were a Championship team in 2018 at the time of his appointment.
Emiliano Buendia
£33.3m
Ollie Watkins
£29.4m
Leon Bailey
£27.7m
Diego Carlos
£26.8m
Lucas Digne
£26m
As you can see from his top-five most expensive Villa signings, as shown in the table above, the former Liverpool director had mixed success over the years in his attempts to improve the squad.
However, it appears as though he struck gold with one of his final pieces of business as January signing Jhon Duran, who arrived alongside Spanish left-back Alex Moreno, is already looking like an excellent addition to the club.
Why did Villa sign Duran?
The Villans snapped the Colombia international up from MLS side Chicago Fire after the impressive youngster showcased his talent at MLS level throughout 2022.
He joined the American outfit from Envigado FC at the start of last year after his breakthrough at first-team level in his home country caught the attention of other teams.
Duran scored nine goals and provided four assists in 47 appearances for the Colombian team, which included six goals in 20 top-flight outings. The dynamo averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.11 and contributed with an impressive five goals and three assists in ten league starts in 2021.
This earned him a move to the Fire for the 2022 campaign and he hit the ground running in America with an excellent year in front of goal.
The left-footed whiz caught the eye with eight goals and three assists in 14 MLS starts throughout the year, which earned him a Sofascore rating of 6.91 and praise from talent scout Jacek Kulig, who lauded the attacking titan as "powerful".
He played 27 matches in total and racked up some valuable experience for Chicago Fire as the young ace proved himself to be capable of making a big impact at the top end of the pitch on a semi-regular basis with goals and assists from a number nine position.
How much was Duran worth at the time of his move to Villa?
His excellent form in America convinced Purslow and Emery to swoop for his services in January of this year, and FootballTransfers placed his Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at just €2.1m (£1.8m) at the time of the switch to England.
Duran lived up to his relatively low valuation during his first five months at Villa Park as the ex-Envigado prospect struggled to earn regular minutes in the side.
Emery handed him 12 Premier League appearances and all of them came as a substitute during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign.
He failed to make a positive impact on the pitch for Villa with one 'big chance' missed and a pass completion rate of 58%, to go along with a duel success rate of 34%, as per Sofascore.
This shows that Duran did not offer physicality, quality at the top end of the pitch, or reliability in possession. However, it would have been unrealistic to expect a teenage striker to come over from the MLS to immediately become a star at Premier League level.
Therefore, his displays were not a cause for concern earlier this year as long as the gem went on to step up his development this term, which is what he appears to have done.
How many goals has Duran scored this season?
The 19-year-old ace had his settling-in period last term and is now starting to hit his stride in England with four goals in ten appearances this season.
Duran has scored twice, and completed 72% of his attempted passes, in six top-flight outings during the 2023/24 campaign so far and has found the back of the net in two of his three Europa Conference League clashes, including qualifiers.
He only started two of those ten games and this shows that the Colombia international has the adaptability and quality to make an impact as a substitute, rather than needing to start to make a positive impression on the pitch.
Villa's participation in the Europa Conference League will provide Duran with plenty of opportunities to make his mark as the competition could allow Emery to rest Ollie Watkins, who has produced four goals and three assists in seven Premier League starts.
How much is Duran worth now?
At the time of writing (02/10/2023), FootballTransfers has his xTV at €10.7m (£9.3m) and this means that his value has soared by a whopping 410% over the last ten months or so.
This shows that Purslow struck gold with the signing of Duran at the start of the year as the impressive hotshot is already progressing and starting to showcase his scope for improvement, as evidenced by the difference in quality in his performances between last season and the current campaign.
Emery recently hailed him as a player with "big" potential but urged that supporters need to be "patient" with the teenage hotshot as his development remains ongoing and he is far from the finished article at this moment in time.
Duran has plenty of time left ahead of him to grow and improve as a player at the age of 19 and there is no need to rush his progress. He will gain valuable experience as a squad option for the Villans for now and can then use that to push on over the months and years to come.
This means that his value could continue to increase as the talented youngster, hopefully, plays more games and scores more goals for the club.
Purslow will then be able to look back on his deal to sign Duran, in the future, with pride if the exciting centre-forward goes on to be a star for Emery's side over the coming years.
