The first touch was awful. The fourth touch? Goal of the season. Jhon Duran, in a nutshell.
The headlines after Aston Villa came back from two goals down to beat Everton 3-2 ought to have been those of Ollie Watkins, whose brace dragged his side into the game. Instead, they were all about Duran.
His introduction into the game in the 69th minute was a curious one as Unai Emery opted to play both his strikers with Villa chasing a winner. Even since he arrived from MLS club Chicago Fire for €16.64m last summer, Duran has been knocking on Emery's door to be considered a starter instead of Watkins. The Colombian was even awarded the club's goal of the season last year, a stunning half-volley after chesting the ball down in the box, the speed of which looked ever more implausible with each repeated viewing.
Yet, when fellow substitute Ian Maatsen swept the ball to his feet from the left wing, Duran's first touch was very heavy, the ball escaping from his vicinity as it trundled away from goal. This underlined why Emery still only has given him three starts in the Premier League - a heavy touch of that sort could spark a transition for the opposition and that usually results in a goal in the Premier League nowadays. It's not something you can afford when the game is balanced 2-2 in the 76th minute.
The winner, in all its glory ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/L6fafOM6Cc
- Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) September 14, 2024
The ball trundling away, Orel Mangala attempted to steal it, but Duran stretched out one of his telescopic legs and nicked it towards Youri Tielemans with his second touch. Tielemans laid the ball off to Ross Barkley in the middle of the park, who played an instant one-touch pass back to Duran.
Duran's third touch was to control the ball, pushing it a bit further from him. And yet, just like the best strikers have the memory of a goldfish, he'd put all thought of that poor touch behind him. From 29 yards out, against the England no.1 Jordan Pickford, Duran had the innate confidence to attempt a shot.
He wound his left foot back - and you could almost hear Emery's frustration on the sidelines - there were four players ahead of him in promising positions. Slip the ball through? Not for this throwback footballer. He only dealt in stunners. That left foot then made contact with the ball - Duran's fourth touch - and even at 0.25x speed on a YouTube replay, you could feel the ball explode towards goal.
It was a vicious strike in real-time, with an xG of just 0.02, and you could see the ball arc and move in the air, well above an outstretched Pickford, and straight into the top corner. The sound Villa Park made was a mixture of gasps and cheers, as they could scarcely believe what they had seen - the fact that they were now winning 3-2 was almost an afterthought. This was one of the best goals ever scored in the stadium and it came from a 20-year-old who nearly left the club this summer.
The reactions were telling as the screens inside the stadium replayed the goal over and over. Tielemans had his hands on his head in disbelief, Emi Martinez watched open-mouthed, on the sidelines Amadou Onana could barely believe it, and even the crowd gasped in unison when watching replays, Pickford also shaking his head.
I managed to capture Onana's reaction to that incredible, gobsmacking @jhonduran991 goal... ���� #avfc pic.twitter.com/ME0y2om0de
- jusavfc (@jusavfc) September 14, 2024
Away from Birmingham, Chelsea (one of 40 clubs interested in Duran if Villa sporting director, Monchi, is to be believed) were probably watching on in jealousy. That first touch may need plenty of work on the training ground (and Emery was quick to point out how much the youngster still needed to improve), but that fourth touch was that of a world-class striker.
Duran is already in good company when it comes to his stats - of the players currently in the Premier League with a minimum of eight goals, only Erling Haaland (79 minutes per goal) betters the Colombian's strike rate of 86 minutes per goal. This season, Duran has three in 103 minutes, and if he keeps at it in the training ground, he's poised to light up the league with more wonder strikes.
The Premier League would welcome it as well, having seen goals from outside the box dip from 22.3% in the 2006-07 season to 12.4% last year. The league needs more Duran, Duran.
After an international break spent longing for football from the 90s and early 2000s with the #Barclaysmen hashtag, Jhon Duran served a timely reminder that the game, in fact, isn't gone. And for that, he takes ESPN's Moment of the Week.