Aston Villa star ‘still wants Chelsea move despite Mauricio Pochettino’s exit’ as their agent warns to ‘be ready’ ahead of summer transfer window

A Premier League star is still reportedly keen to make the switch to Stamford Bridge this summer, despite Chelsea not even having a manager in place.

Mauricio Pochettino left the club by mutual consent on Tuesday evening at the end of a whirlwind campaign that saw his side shock many by managing to qualify for Europa League football.

It came at the end of a season of uncertainty at Chelsea, with Pochettino’s position under mass scrutiny during much of 2023-24 as the Blues struggled for consistency.

However, they may yet remain a go-to destination for young talents despite an under-whelming season, with one Premier League striker still keen to make the move after being linked back in January, according to their agent.

Aston Villa forward John Duran’s agent has been open in claiming that his client is still of interest to Chelsea, as it was never about Pochettino wanting the player, but the club.

‘He is a player who has a contract with Aston Villa, he ended up doing very well and the coach is counting on him, it is a club that, having got into the Champions League is a great opportunity, but we know he wants to play, we are going to see.,’ said agent Jonathan Herrera, via SportWitness.

‘Now the market is opening up, the club is looking at some options and so are we.’

He continued: ‘The interest has always been there. The fact that Pochettino continues or leaves the club [shouldn’t affect], the one who want him in the end is the club.

‘He is a player that if they change coach or not, we will see what happens, but there has always been interest. Let’s see how we can handle it and make sure Aston Villa are ready.’

Duran’s time at Aston Villa has been perhaps frustrating as the striker has struggled to break into the first team.

A large part of that stems from the fact that Ollie Watkins has been one of the stories of the season, his 19 goals and 13 assists propelling him most likely into England’s European championship squad.

Yet there have still been flashes of Duran’s impressive talent on display despite just three starts in the Premier League game and only one instance of playing a full 90 minutes.

In 25 appearances he has five goals, though those have come in 456 minutes, meaning he actually averages a goal every 91.2 minutes, which is an impressive rate of scoring regardless of the small sample size.

Scrolling through Duran’s likes from his official X page, you see plenty of posts from Chelsea’s account and Blues fans profiles, with some even discussing a possible move to Stamford Bridge.

One of the posts that Duran has interacted with from a Chelsea supporter account asks for opinions from other fans on the Villa striker’s potential.

Other interactions largely focus on posts discussing stats and performances of Duran in the Premier League with Villa this season.

Meanwhile, the Colombian rising talent was recently playfully described by Villa captain John McGinn as a ‘bit of a nut’ and a ‘nightmare’ after his goalscoring performance against Liverpool.