Jhon Duran joins Al-Nassr: the journey from Colombia to Arabia via MLS and the Premier League

Pelzer was a German defender who played for several teams in his homeland – over 18 months in Blackburn.

Unfortunately, his stay at Ewood Park was destroyed by injuries and he only managed one match of the League Cup against Walsall in 2002.

In December 2019, four years after his retirement to play, Pelzer obtained his first job with a club – the technical director of MLS Side Chicago Fire.

A few months after the start of work, he went to Envigado to seek a defender – which they also signed.

“I was looking at our main target Carlos Teran at the time,” he told BBC Sport. “Jhon was replaced later and you could already see how good he was.

“It was a raw talent but you could see its speed and acceleration. In the air, it was already a handful for defenders.

“According to my experience in England, I knew that he already had something for England. It was something where you could have the fantasy that he could get there. It was a WOW effect.”

But there was a torsion – in the form of an article titled “Next Generation 2020: 60 of the best young talents in world football” which included Duran.

“A few weeks later, the Guardian released a list, external and after that, it was a race,” said Pelzer.

“We wanted to recover it in one way or another, but the clock coated. There were so many other teams that were pursuing him too. We were convinced of his qualities.”

Again, the strong family roots of Duran were obvious during the negotiations.

“During the pandemic, we had to be creative,” said Pelzer. “We had to get in touch with the family – it was not that simple. Finally, as we did, we had everyone on the same wavelength.

“We showed him how he would progress here. We had a lot of conversations with his family and it was also something that helped a lot in the moment.”

And therefore in January 2021, Duran, 17, became the youngest international signature of MLS History – for fees of $ 2.5 million (1.8 million pounds sterling).

But he could not move before he was 18 years old – so spent the following year on loan with Envigado.

In addition to playing and training with his Colombian club, he had individual weekly training sessions for the fire.

“It was important to us that it was well prepared,” said Pelzer. “In acceleration, technical, finish, many jump exercises, we have formed it.

“You could see that the figures each week were better, better. The trajectory was already going in the direction you could see if he trains well and focuses on his work, he can reach a good level.”

After a total of nine goals in 47 games for Envigado, Duran left for the States. “For a young South American boy who enters a country like the United States, it was different,” said Pelzer.

“The city is enormous compared to where it came from. Of course, it had to adapt.”

Pelzer said he “was very raw but showed many brilliant things” during his beginnings. “It was very impressive, but we had to work a lot with him to put him in the right frame,” he said.

“He has a lot of talent. When he joined us, it was a question of channeling all his qualities because he must remain focused on his work,” continued the German. “If he is able to concentrate there and put all his efforts in his work, he is able to reach a very high ceiling.”

Duran scored a goal in the first half of the season – but succeeded seven others in the second half of the campaign and ended as the club top scorer with eight goals in 28 games.

And then Aston Villa entered and signed it despite competition from other clubs.

“Villa were those who changed to the sixth equipment to conclude that the agreement,” said Pelzer. “They wanted it and were very serious and put every effort to get there.”