Although nine of his ten appearances have come off the bench, his six goals top Villa’s scoring charts and made him a Holte End hero.
The Colombian’s pace and power makes him impossible to knock off the ball.
Advertisement
But in his early days at Envigado FC back home, that heart for a battle and refusal to back down once brought more cards than a casino croupier.
Youth coach Wilberth Perea, the man Duran sees as a second father, knew he was a special talent.
Perea, whose assistant was Colombian legend James Rodriguez’s father, revealed: “He first got my attention at 11 and always had an overwhelming personality.
“Jhon had such a strong character who didn’t back down from anyone and was afraid of no one.
Advertisement
“He had the heart and soul of a child but when competing was totally different. He always played at the limit, no matter the cost.
“He’s doing it against the best defenders in England but even as a young player, against older and more experienced ones who played dirty, he didn’t care.
“Even then he was like a runaway train. Jhon just crushed them without giving them a chance and his style of play meant he got so many cards.”
Advertisement
Jhon Duran ’causes chaos with s—housery’ as Aston Villa ace performs controversial gesture amid West Ham transfer link
Fining the up-and-coming Duran was no option as the kid from the humble background had little money.
The solution came with punishing laps of the pitch — plus a series of rockets from his coach that often reduced him to tears.
Perea added: “We couldn’t impose fines, so made him run round the athletics track at the stadium, that’s why he has an explosive capacity and such a long sprint trajectory.
“There were many moments in the Under-15 locker room I had to show such a temper at times it made him cry.
Advertisement
“His mother and father, Saturnina and Regino, are humble people and I knew how hard it had been for them to support their family. I told Jhon, ‘You have to give your parents a better life. Please don’t waste the chance’. It touched his pride and, at times, he didn’t like it.”
Yet he knuckled down and, when he signed pro, the club gave him a place to live where he could bring his parents.
Skipping school
There were still hiccups along the way, though — like skipping school so often that Perea would make regular trips just to check he had turned up.
He joked: “I would make surprise visits to school and if Jhon wasn’t there, I’d furiously go round to his house and he’d be in bed listening to reggae!
Advertisement
“Sometimes I felt like grabbing him by the ears and throwing him out of the window. The school janitor used to laugh and said I was the student, not Jhon.”
Duran is passing every footballing test with honours this season.
After a stuttering start to life at Villa, who signed him from MLS side Chicago Fire for an initial £14.75million last term, his career has exploded.
And when he hit that stunning lobbed winner against Bayern, Perea admitted it left him sobbing with pride.
Advertisement
He said: “I called Saturnina and we were both crying. All those days he said he was fed up and wanted to throw in the towel, now he’s scoring against the best teams in the world.”
The Scottish government backed plans for the city to step in and host the games after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out due to rising costs.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will begin exactly 12 years after those held in Glasgow in 2014.
Advertisement
The event, which will be much smaller than previous games, will see 10 sports take place across four venues in the city.
The report also confirms that the four venues used during the event will be the Emirates Arena, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, the Scottish Events Campus and Scotstoun stadium.
There will be no road-based events, such as a cycling road race or time trials, according to the report.
There will be no new athletes’ village built for the Games, with competitors and officials staying in “existing accommodation across the city”.
Advertisement
The report adds, while the model remains in development, it is expected “a 10-sport programme, fully integrating para competitions” will include “athletics and swimming as mandatory sports”.
Athletics and swimming were made compulsory sports by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) in 2021.
Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) and CGF are finalising the remaining sports to be announced.
Organisers can choose from a list of 22 other core sports such as cycling and boxing.
Advertisement
The last time the games were in Glasgow, 17 sports were contested.
Getty Images
The report confirms that Tollcross International Swimming Pool will be a 2026 venue
The report states: “The concept is based on a significantly reduced budget, timeline and scale of event, therefore the approach and experience will be different to previous Commonwealth Games.”
It adds Victoria agreed to make a compensatory payment of around £190m to the CGF and Commonwealth Games Australia — and there is a “commitment from CGF to meet the entire cost of the Games”.
It was previously confirmed that Commonwealth Games Australia had contributed £2.3m to “enhance the event”.
Advertisement
A Glasgow 2026 programme board has been set up, chaired by the council’s chief executive, to oversee the city’s role in the Games.
It will monitor the “progress of delivery of the city’s operations and functions within the agreed budgets, ensuring a legacy for Glasgow”.
Councillors were asked on Thursday to grant permission for the chief executive and the council’s finance director to “negotiate and conclude all legal and financial agreements associated with the city’s role in hosting of the Games”.
Reporting by Drew Sandelands at the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – There are few matchups in MMA that can provide a more stunning visual than Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira, and that was on display for the final time Friday ahead of the pair battling in the PFL: Battle of the Giants main event.
Ngannou (17-3) and Ferreira (13-3) got a final look at each other at ceremonial weigh-ins with an intense staredown in which they literally went head to head. The scene sets the stage for their inaugural PFL heavyweight super fight title clash at The Mayadeen (ESPN+ pay-per-view, DAZN).
Advertisement
It will be former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou’s first MMA fight since January 2022 as he returns in a new promotion against 2023 season champion Ferreira, who is fresh off a 21-second knockout of Ryan Bader in February.
Check out the video above to see Ngannou and Ferreira have their final faceoff at ceremonial weigh-ins.
Gianni Infantino says player welfare “remains a priority” for Fifa despite the top European leagues and players’ union Fifpro filing a legal complaint to the European Commission.
World football’s governing body has been accused of abusing a dominant position under EU competition law by failing to properly consult over the international fixture calendar, which included the introduction of a new 32-team Club World Cup next summer.
Unions and clubs said Fifa has harmed the economic interests of leagues and jeopardised player welfare through its “unilateral” approach.
Advertisement
Fifa chief Infantino posted a photo of himself on Instagram, external meeting David Aganzo, the president of the Spanish union AFE, in Miami.
Underneath it he wrote “Fifa continues to work with player bodies to ensure player welfare remains a priority. I look forward to continue working with David and everyone at AFE to achieve this goal”.
World players’ union Fifpro declined to comment, but sources told the PA news agency that Aganzo’s meeting with Infantino was a personal one.
In September, Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri joined a growing chorus of voices in the game who suggested players were “close” to going on strike if their concerns on the congested calendar were not heard.
Advertisement
Fifpro lodged the complaint to the European Commission on Monday alongside European Leagues, which represents 39 leagues – including the English Premier League – and 1,130 clubs across 33 countries.
A separate legal challenge has also been submitted the Belgian courts. In that case, the unions want the European Court of Justice to rule whether Fifa’s actions breach the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The scheduling of the Club World Cup in the United States is regarded as the tipping point in sparking the call for action as it will not finish until 13 July, leaving little time for an off-season break before preparations for domestic campaigns begin.
Fifa insisted the calendar agreement was the result of extensive consultation, and has accused leagues of hypocrisy because many of them, including the Premier League, have scheduled pre-season events of their own.
“The one thing about Cowboy, is that it’s very refreshing to watch how open he’s been with all of this,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “He never lied. He never lied about what he was doing, what he was going to do, and how he was going to apply it to his life. And I’m all for a guy that has personal goals. And I love Cowboy… But at the end of the day, for years now, he’s been openly using steroids.”
“When you’re training, you start to feel better. You start to feel like yourself again, especially with the help. Then you go, ‘I want to fight again.’ But at the end of the day, Cowboy has been doing steroids, openly!”
Advertisement
Cormier is not the only fighter to raise these concerns. Cerrone himself noted he’s been taking TRT for years now along with other things and is now in the process of getting off those so he can re-enter the USADA testing pool and return to action, which is perfectly legal per the testing criteria. But Cormier believes that even if it abides by the letter of the law, it goes against the spirit of them.
“He’s not been clean,” Cormier said. “And even if he can come back, take tests, pass those tests to get back, he had to do all those things, all those enhancers to allow for him to feel like he can compete at that level again.
“So he would test clean, but isn’t that just a loophole? Isn’t it just a loophole like the guys that when they get hurt, they get out of the testing pool, then when they recover from the injury, then they re-enter the testing pool? It’s not wrong. It’s not illegal. But is it right? Because you truly have been enhanced to get to where you are and how you feel, and feel good enough to come back and fight in the elite organization of the UFC.
“To me, it doesn’t feel right.”
Advertisement
To add to all this, Cormier notes that the nature of Cerrone’s exit from MMA opens up even more questions for his return. Cerrone left the sport having lost six of his final seven fights, with a no-contest as the only non-loss of his final three years competing. If Cerrone comes back looking like a new man, Cormier wonders how that will look given the circumstances. So all things considered, Cormier believes the UFC shouldn’t allow this to happen.
“Remember also, Cowboy lost six fights, had one no-contest in seven fights, and the last time he fought Jim Miller and got submitted,” Cormier said. “Imagine if he comes back and he looks like a world-beater. I’m against it. I’m honestly against the idea that you could find a loophole, go in and use that loophole, feel better while using that loophole, come back and fight because you can pass a clean test.
“I like Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. I’m against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone getting to compete in the UFC after openly doing what he’s been doing for the last two and a half years.”
Exactly. Normal behavior for a champ, and going thru a 5 rd training camp. Abnormal are the very few that can go thru 5 RD training camps 3-4x in a calendar year or 12 month period. Enter Poatan, Izzy, Volk. Anomalies that some fans forget is a blessing to be able to do. https://t.co/CbpNaDxkjm
Georges St-Pierre has the sort of retirement we should all aspire to: just chilling.
This should be pretty simple: if you believe in drug testing, then Cerrone should be allowed to compete if he passes the tests. If you bar him from fighting despite him coming in clean, that’s pretty clearly dumb. You believe in the science or you don’t. Pick one.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login