Aston Villa dropped out of the top four in the Premier League on Sunday after they were comfortably beaten 4-1 by Tottenham Hotspur in London.
The Villans had taken the lead in the first-half, thanks to a scrappy goal from Morgan Rogers from a corner, and kept that lead heading into the break.
However, a second-half collapse resulted in all three points going to Ange Postecoglou’s side, after the hosts scored four goals in the second half.
Brennan Johnson levelled the score before a brace from Dominic Solanke put Spurs comfortably ahead, with substitute James Maddison scoring a late free-kick to make sure of the result.
Super substitute Jhon Duran was not enough to save the Villans on this occasion, as the Colombia international came on with 21 minutes left to play and failed to register a shot on goal, whilst he completed two of his four attempted passes.
The former MLS star has bailed out Unai Emery’s side on several occasions in the 2024/25 campaign but this one was too big of an ask, as the defence let the team down by allowing four goals to be conceded in just 45 minutes.
Jhon Duran's form this season
The 20-year-old sensation has already racked up six goals across the Premier League and the Champions League this season, despite starting one match in the two competitions combined.
In the 2023/24 campaign, Duran only managed five goals in 23 appearances in the Premier League and two goals in ten outings in the Europa Conference League, which shows that he is already on course to comfortably beat his tally in the top-flight and Europe this term.
The left-footed ace has scored winning goals off the bench against Bayern Munich, Everton, and West Ham United already this season in all competitions, and this shows that his goals have been meaningful and impactful for Villa, rather than being the third or fourth goal in heavy victories.
Appearances
10
Starts
0
xG
2.37
Goals
4
Conversion rate
29%
As you can see in the table above, Duran has outperformed his xG tally in the Premier League this season, which suggests that he has been ruthless in front of goal when chances have come his way for the Villans.
His emergence as a star for Villa should not come as a huge surprise, however, as the club did splash a significant fee of £18m to sign the then-teenager from Chicago Fire at the start of 2023.
Although, spending a huge sum of money on a player does not guarantee that they will go on to be a success, as the Villans have learned the hard way in the past. In fact, they once spent even more than £18m to sign a centre-forward who struggled under Dean Smith – Wesley.
How much Aston Villa paid for Wesley
Aston Villa won the play-offs and were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2018/19 season and decided to dip into the market to bolster their squad ahead of the top-flight campaign.
Smith opted to swoop for Club Brugge centre-forward Wesley and the Villans reportedly splashed out a fee of £22m to secure his services in the summer transfer window in 2019, which meant that he cost £4m more than Duran.
They decided to invest such a big sum of money in the Brazilian number nine after his return of 17 goals and ten assists in 48 matches in all competitions for the Belgian side during the 2018/19 campaign.
Appearances
21
Starts
21
Goals
5
Conversion rate
14%
Assists
1
As you can see in the table above, Wesley was handed plenty of chances to impress, starting 21 times, but only registered five goals and one assist, as he flopped for the money spent on him in that time.
Two of those goals and his only assist came in the 5-1 win over Norwich, which meant that he managed three goals and zero assists in 20 matches outside of that rout against the struggling Canaries.
In January of his first season, though, he suffered a horrendous knee injury against Burnley that eventually kept him on the sidelines for 57 matches.
The Brazilian, unfortunately, was never able to recover his Villa career after that lengthy absence, playing four more times in the Premier League, and his early struggles before his injury do not mean that he would have been a flop in the long-term without that injury, as the youngster could have adapted to the country and gone on to develop into a star.
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He was then released in the summer of 2023, after loan spells with Club Brugge, Internacional, and Levante, before joining Stoke on a free transfer last year.
Where Wesley is currently playing
At the time of writing (04/11/2024), Wesley currently plays for Karagümrük in the second division of football in Turkey, which illustrates how far his career has fallen since his horrific knee injury.
The £22m signing for Villa should be in the prime of his career, at the age of 27, and is, instead, arguably playing at the lowest standard of his senior career to date, having played in the Belgian top-flight, the Premier League, the Brazilian Serie A, LaLiga 2, and the Championship prior to this latest move.
In the 2023/24 campaign, Wesley made 23 appearances for Stoke City in all competitions, after joining on a free transfer from the Villans, and failed to register a single goal or assist.
The Potters then decided that they did not want to keep hold of the Brazilian titan, who failed to score in 20 Championship outings, and he made the move to Turkey’s second tier earlier this year.
Appearances
11
Goals
9
Big chances missed
3
Conversion rate
53%
Assists
1
As you can see in the table above, Wesley has enjoyed a terrific start to life in Turkey, with nine goals in 11 games, and appears to be finally enjoying his football again.
Hopefully, he can get his career back on track and earn himself a move back to one of Europe’s top leagues, thanks to his goalscoring record in the second division in Turkey.
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