Jhon Duran has signed a new six-year deal at Aston Villa as a reward for his fine start to the season, after the club rejected forty offers for the star man over the summer.
The striker has been electric coming off the bench for the Villans this campaign, bagging six goals in all competitions with Unai Emery's side getting off to a flier on all fronts.
He has not been scoring tap-ins, either. Duran has become renowned for his audacious finishes and outrageous strikes from distance.
The Colombian topped the lot last week as he rifled the ball past a stranded Manuel Neuer from range to give Villa a famous 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
In making the super-sub role his own, Duran has given his manager a headache, with the 20-year-old outscoring England star Ollie Watkins, who remains the starting No 9 for the West Midlands outfit.
Either way, he will take to the field after the international break with a spanking new deal under his belt as he looks to capitalise on his red-hot form.
In his first full season at the club last year, Duran scored eight goals in 37 appearances after joining from MLS outfit Chicago Fire, though most of his showing were off the bench.
It did not take the Colombian long to put his stamp on this campaign, scoring the winner in the opening match against West Ham just 17 minutes after coming on.
After drifting in from an offside position, he produced a fine first-time finish from Ian Maatsen's low cross.
A fortnight later, Duran made an even speedier impact, scoring with his first touch against Leicester on August 31. As Lucas Digne's cross came in, he gave his marker a nudge to gain some space and bury the header.
Following the international break, the supreme talent struck with one of his now signature long-range efforts to complete an impressive comeback against Everton.
Another perfectly-timed run against Wolves showed he has the instincts of a classic centre-forward and earned him a tidy goal to wrap up another victory from behind.
Throw in a composed converted penalty in a rare start in the Carabao Cup against Wycombe and Duran came into Villa's big date with Bayern on prodigious form.
And he proved the match winner in the side's biggest European clash in four decades as he broke the lines to find some space and loop the ball at pace past Neuer.
Pau Torres swept the ball forward to him, and even though Upamecano was shadowing him, Duran saw that Neuer had ventured out of his goal.
Duran swivelled and hit the ball with his left foot in one movement, lifting it brilliantly over Neuer and into the net to send thousands of fans into rapturous celebration.
