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Jhon Durán has completed his move from Aston Villa to Al-Nassr for a fee of up to £71m, becoming the latest player from one of Europe’s top leagues to move to Saudi Arabia.
The 21-year-old Colombia international will team with Cristiano Ronaldo and wear the No 9 shirt. The initial fee is about £65m and represents a significant profit for Villa, who signed him from Chicago Fire for £18m. Durán has scored 12 goals in 29 games for Villa this season, including a memorable winner against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Durán’s move was confirmed after Villa’s manager, Unai Emery, said Ollie Watkins was happy to stay after Arsenal had a bid for the striker rejected. Watkins reacted to scoring in Wednesday’s Champions League win against Celtic by tapping the badge in celebration.
“Yes, he is happy to stay,” Emery said. “You can ask him, but we asked him how he is feeling every day, every year he has been here with Aston Villa, with us and without us. We talked with him and he is very focused on the message we have. The commitment of Ollie Watkins with us is a huge commitment, he appreciates a lot how Aston Villa was always supporting him, helping him and when we joined him here two years ago, how we worked with him, always trying to get the best of him. Now we need him, like he needed Aston Villa.”
The fee for Durán is the second biggest Villa have received behind the £100m Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish. Al-Nassr have also made an improved offer of £75m for Kaoru Mitoma but had that rejected by Brighton and are set to give up on their hopes of signing the Japan winger.
An initial £54.4m offer was rejected on Thursday by Brighton for the 27-year-old, who signed a new contract worth about £80,000 a week in October 2023 and will have two years on his deal at the end of the season. He is believed to be not interested in moving to Saudi Arabia at this stage of his career.
Neymar has completed his return to Santos after leaving another Saudi Arabian club, Al-Hilal. Using the hashtag “ThePrinceIsBack”, Santos published a short video of the 32-year-old’s highlights before he left them for Barcelona in 2013.
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Neymar, still the world’s most expensive footballer after his £200m move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, had confirmed his impending return in a social media post on Thursday. The return to his homeland comes after an injury-plagued spell at Al-Hilal, who he joined in the summer of 2023 but for whom he played only seven times for after sustaining anterior cruciate ligament and hamstring injuries.
Neymar made his debut for Santos at the age of 17 in 2009 and scored 136 goals in 225 games. Writing on social media on Thursday, Neymar said: “It’s been nearly 12 years since I left, and it feels like yesterday. My feelings for the club and fans have never changed.”
