Unai Emery refused to debate switch hypothesis surrounding Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran after Aston Villa secured their place within the Champions League spherical of 16 with a pulsating 4-2 win over Celtic tonight.
Morgan Rogers scored a hat-trick for the house aspect with Watkins additionally heading in the right direction, simply hours after information emerged that Villa had obtained a £60million bid for the England striker from Arsenal.
And with Duran reportedly a goal for Saudi Arabian aspect Al Nassr – reviews tonight advised the deal was accomplished with the Colombian set to grow to be a team-mate of Cristiano Ronaldo in a deal price £64 million – it means there could have to be some work accomplished by Emery and the Villa recruitment group ahed of Monday’s switch deadline.
🚨🟡🔵 Jhon Durán to Al Nassr, right here we go! Story from earlier tonight confirmed as paperwork are being ready.
Aston Villa to obtain €77m mounted charge plus add-ons, long run deal accepted by Durán.
Medical booked tomorrow after which he’ll journey to Saudi proper after ✈️🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/m3SN6ots84
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 29, 2025
Requested about Duran, Emery stated: “Tomorrow or Friday we are able to discuss in regards to the switch, or perhaps subsequent week, till the whole lot is completed I don’t need to communicate, as a result of in soccer the whole lot can occur. The membership is working and attempting to compete within the switch window as a result of we’d like some gamers. Some can depart, however it isn’t time to talk about it.”
On Watkins, who additionally missed a penalty towards Celtic, he added: “I do know you need to ask about it, however I informed you, right now is just not the day.”
Good Rogers overshadows Duran
Duran didn’t make it off the bench tonight, thanks largely because of the type of Watkins and Villa’s different attacking gamers, led by the sensible Rogers.
“Positively the spotlight of my profession up to now,” stated the previous Manchester Metropolis teenager. “It’s a loopy expertise and a loopy sport to be part of. It’s a large achievement and we needs to be pleased with ourselves.”
Rogers turned the primary participant in Champions League historical past to attain twice within the opening 5 minutes of a sport because the hosts got here flying out of the traps.
He added: ”It’s one thing we needed to handle beginning video games behind and giving ourselves a mountain to climb. Nonetheless one thing to work on however the good begin is one thing to place us on the suitable foot.
“I felt we had been on high for the massive majority. We scored two targets and that’s what modified the sport. We’re a bit shorthanded on the again in the mean time. We bought the win.
“We needed to dig deep, we all know we are able to, we do it within the Premier League each week. We totally deserved it. We’ve bought the starvation and the drive and we’ve bought a supervisor who pushes us day-after-day.”
