'Ridiculous money' - Alan Shearer weighs in on Aston Villa's Jhon Duran transfer
Premier League legend Alan Shearer has spoken out on Aston Villa star Jhon Duran's potential big money move to Saudi Arabia.
The Columbian is expected to fetch north of £65m from Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr just two years after arriving at Villa Park from Chicago Fire. Not to mention his huge salary, which is said to be five times what Villa pay him.
Duran is a fan-favourite at the club and has shown glimpses of his talent whenever he's featured. He has scored 10 goals in 27 games in all competitions this season, which largely consists of substitute appearances.
The 21-year-old has found it difficult to nail down a starting spot at Villa with England international Ollie Watkins ahead of him in the pecking order. The former Brentford man has also been at the centre of transfer speculation himself recently, with Arsenal seeing a bid rejected by the Midlands club.
Duran's bit-part role in Unai Emery's plans, together with the large sums of money involved, the top division's all-time leading goal-scorer has described the deal as "amazing" for all parties involved.
Shearer told Betfair: "I think it's a great deal for Aston Villa because I'm not convinced that he could go and become an amazing player, I think there's definitely potential there. He's 21 and what Aston Villa paid for him and what they're going to get for him, for where they are now and where they want to go - I think it's a great deal for them.
"I get why he's going there, and he can come back to Europe within four or five years and be a multi-millionaire, I get all those reasons and understand it, it's short career and all of those things. So, I think it's an amazing deal for both parties, he's not been a regular at Aston Villa, and he's not going to be a regular at Aston Villa while someone is better than him and Ollie Watkins is better than him at the minute.
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"He's been brilliant at what he is and what his job is at this moment in time, but he's just a number two striker who is 21 years of age and they are being offered a ridiculous amount of money for him, so I totally get Aston Villa's point of view. Especially with PSR and the way the rules are, I totally understand and get what they're doing."
Should the deal go through, Villa will then have an expanded war chest of money to find Duran's replacement. They have been heavily linked with Nottingham Forest's Matheus Cunha and Chelsea attacker Joao Felix.
