Aston Villa legend sends 'no understanding' blast but backs Unai Emery transfer stance

Stiliyan Petrov has urged Aston Villa not to sell Jhon Duran amid intense speculation about the striker’s future and against the backdrop of a disappointing performance off the bench in the Champions League loss to Monaco on Tuesday evening.

The Villa legend was responding to Unai Emery’s admission that he had made a mistake by fielding both Duran and Ollie Watkins in the second half of the game in France, a game which means the club might have to go through a play-off to reach the knock-out stages.

Petrov, who played 219 games in six seasons in Claret & Blue, felt the players rather than the manager were to blame for that and was critical of both and their failure to ‘adapt’.

“Let's not lie to each other. I think the modern strikers now, they hardly know how to play as two strikers up-front,” Petrov told talkSPORT. “We see many clubs using only one striker and building their game through only one striker rather than two, and you can see it yesterday. I spoke with my friends after the game and we did talk about Jhon Duran and Ollie Watkins, two players with great ability, but it seems like they, they were getting further and further from each other.

“There was no link-up play, there was no understanding, and when you see something like that, you just question not the manager, but the players of adapting and adjusting to the style of football that the team can play.”

However, that doesn’t mean the two strikers can’t coexist in Emery’s squad – and with West Ham having already seen a bid for Duran turned down – Petrov endorsed Villa’s stance that the 21-year-old is not for sale.

“When you try to build a legacy and you try to build a team, you want young prospects, players that can do the job over the season and different competitions, and this is down to the players now to compete, who does the job he plays.

“Duran has shown that he can score goals, he was really incredible every time he comes as a sub. Seems like Ollie Watkins is the favourite and Duran can only change that. By changing that, you have to score goals, you have to play well, and you have to adapt to the team.

“But a lot of speculation about Duran at the moment, if he's going to leave or not, I'm very against it because when you build something strong and special, this is what Unai Emery has managed to build in the last two years, I don't think you should sell.

“I think the club is in a better position with the PSR, financially they're more stable and I don't think they should sell, but unfortunately we live in the football world when you never never know what could happen.”

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