Aston Villa playmaker Emiliano Buendia has hailed Unai Emery and spoken fondly of his time with us as he faces an uncertain future this summer.
The 28-year-old arrived from Norwich City in July 2021 and has since gone on to make 97 appearances for the club, scoring 10 goals and providing nine assists in those outings.
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It’s been a difficult spell for the Argentine ace though, as just as he was hitting his stride and playing some of his best football for us after the arrival of Unai Emery, he suffered a devastating knee injury on the eve of the season before last, which ruled him out for the entire campaign.
While he made his long-awaited and celebrated comeback and was playing a relatively important role for us as we looked to compete on multiple fronts last season, he was loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen in January and went on to make 14 appearances for the Bundesliga giants, scoring twice.
Buendia has been on the fringes of the senior Argentina squad at times too, but his injury was certainly a major setback. With two years remaining on his current contract with Villa, there will be an intriguing summer ahead to determine what the next step is for him.
Although that remains highly uncertain at this stage, what is clear is that he has relished the opportunity of playing for the club and admires Emery greatly, but the Argentine playmaker looks back at his injury as a crucial turning point, and time will tell if that ultimately spelt the beginning of the end of his stint with us.
“I really love all the time here [at Villa],” Buendia told TalkNorwichCity. “From the beginning I felt good and important for the club and team. With all of the coaches as well. Obviously I had moments where I played more, or less, this is football, but I was always prepared to play.
“I remember the times I didn’t play enough, but always coming on from the bench. I was having a really good impact on games, but then also when Unai Emery came to the club, I think we understood each other, and I was having probably my best time in terms of football at the club.
“I was enjoying it a lot, I was learning a lot because he’s a top coach, but then suddenly pre-season, my best moment, one of my best confidence in my career but few days before starting the league, probably my worst injury arrived, it was like this.”
While many will perhaps argue that Villa have moved on from Buendia and it’s probably the best outcome for all concerned to part ways this summer, time will tell what Emery decides to do.
The reasoning behind the decision to loan Buendia out in January was for him to play regularly, rediscover his fitness and form, and come back closer to the player he was prior to his injury.
Having arguably done that to an extent, Emery could be tempted to reintegrate him back into the squad with a void to be filled if Marco Asensio doesn’t join us on a permanent basis after his loan stint last season, or we could look to the transfer market for an upgrade and ultimately opt to move Buendia on to help facilitate such a move.
It’s hoped that the former materialises given there is still a soft spot for him, but if it is the latter, we’ll look back with regret on how his injury impacted his time with us and to the extent it did as working under Emery made a significant difference, but we’ll all no doubt wish Buendia the best as he’s been committed, determined and resilient throughout his spell as a Villa player thus far.
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