{"id":7397,"date":"2025-02-12T10:04:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T11:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/?p=7397"},"modified":"2025-02-12T11:52:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T11:52:46","slug":"arsene-wenger-says-january-transfer-surprised-him-after-failed-arsenal-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/arsene-wenger-says-january-transfer-surprised-him-after-failed-arsenal-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsene Wenger says January transfer \u2018surprised\u2019 him after failed Arsenal approach"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Paris\t<\/div>
Arsene Wenger was ‘surprised’ by Jhon Duran’s move from Aston Villa to Al-Nassr (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former Arsenal<\/a> manager Arsene Wenger<\/a> says he was ‘surprised’ by Jhon Duran’s big-money move from Aston Villa to the Saudi Pro League<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

Duran, 21, was just beginning to make a name for himself in English football with Villa, scoring 12 goals in the first half of the season, despite playing second fiddle to Ollie Watkins for the most part.<\/p>\n

But Duran made no secret of his grievances over a lack of regular playing time under Unai Emery and the Colombian’s future was the subject of intense speculation throughout the January transfer window.<\/p>\n

Several top sides were alerted to a potential move for Duran, including Barcelona and West Ham, while Arsenal reportedly made an approach for the young striker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Al-Nassr jumped to the front of the queue for Duran’s signature with the deadline approaching and went on to agree a deal worth in the region of \u00a364million for the forward.<\/p>\n

Since signing on the dotted line, Duran has enjoyed a dream start with his new club, becoming the first player to score twice on their Al-Nassr debut since the Saudi Pro League’s rebrand in 2008.<\/p>\n

Wenger enjoyed Duran’s double in Al-Nassr’s 3-0 win over Al-Fayha but admits the attacker’s decision to switch teams midway through the season came as something of a surprise.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Al\t<\/div>
Duran scored twice on his Al-Nassr debut against Al-Fayha (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/AlNassrFC_EN\/status\/1889376421916586232<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

‘Duran is a young player. He played at Aston Villa where he was adored and loved,’ Wenger told Al-Nassr’s official website during a visit to the club this week.<\/p>\n

‘It was a surprise that during the season, from the Premier League, he moves to the Saudi Pro League.<\/p>\n

‘But congratulations, they have done a good job there.’<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Aston\t<\/div>
Duran became frustrated with his lack of starts at Villa (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wenger has been impressed by Al-Nassr’s evolution in recent years, with the club successfully capturing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and Aymeric Laporte prior to Duran’s arrival.<\/p>\n

‘For me, Saudi and Al-Nassr have great coaches,’ the iconic Frenchman, who currently serves as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, added.<\/p>\n

‘They have great players, they have a world figure number one with Cristiano Ronaldo, who is an example for every young player.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Al-Nassr\t<\/div>
Duran and Ronaldo were both on the scoresheet in Al-Nassr’s win over Al-Fayha (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘So the basic ingredients are there to do well and to develop well.<\/p>\n

‘Overall, I would say big club, big players, great staff and, of course, financial potential as well.<\/p>\n

‘But more than everything else, it is linked with good decisions and, to me, they make good decisions here.’<\/p>\n

Facing the media after his eye-catching debut, Duran said he was ‘very happy’ to be able learn from five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.<\/p>\n

‘I’m very happy to share the pitch and learn from the best athlete in the world,’ he told reporters.<\/p>\n

‘For me, he is the biggest star in football and I am very happy to learn from him. <\/p>\n

‘Scoring with the football king is like playing a career in FIFA.’<\/p>\n

For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsene Wenger was ‘surprised’ by Jhon Duran’s move from Aston Villa to Al-Nassr (Picture: Getty) Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he was ‘surprised’ by Jhon Duran’s big-money move from Aston Villa to the Saudi Pro League in January. Duran, 21, was just beginning to make a name for himself in English football with Villa,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7397"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7404,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7397\/revisions\/7404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}