Aston Villa have reportedly rejected a proposal from Stuttgart for Emiliano Buendia, but he could yet leave the club this week.
The 28-year-old impressed over pre-season to make his case to be part of Unai Emery’s plans this season, having had a loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen in the second half of the previous campaign which perhaps raised question marks over his future with us.
READ MORE: Villa remain in the hunt for key transfer target to bolster attack
Having recovered from a serious knee injury, it had been hoped that the playmaker could be a key squad player this year as he looks to get back to being an important option for Emery, just as he was when the Basque coach first took charge.
Speculation over his future is seemingly refusing to go away though, as The Athletic report that Villa have rejected an initial loan offer with an option to buy included in the deal from Stuttgart, but it’s added that the Argentine playmaker’s future at the club is still uncertain as an exit hasn’t been ruled out, despite Buendia being keen to stay.
On one hand, it seems quite concerning that we’re potentially going to offload another attacking player this month having already seen Jacob Ramsey and Leon Bailey depart, and although that would surely signal intent from Villa to bring in reinforcements to fill those voids, such drastic change in a specific area of the squad in the final stages of the transfer window is a worry.
It comes after a dire start to the season in which we’ve yet to score a goal and picked up just a point from our opening two games, and so this could very well be a decisive week which shapes how the season plays out as we have ambitions of competing on four fronts again.
While Buendia hasn’t exactly made a major contribution since returning from his serious knee injury last season, it’s another potential option moved on as the attacking unit continues to dwindle, and so the hope is that the club is ready to move for priority transfer targets in the coming days to ensure that we have enough creativity and firepower to compete.
An exit for Buendia would surely indicate that we’ve got a swoop lined up, but time will tell if an agreement can be reached to move him on, and if not, if we still have plans to strengthen the squad ahead of the transfer window deadline.
It’s been a difficult summer for Villa amid our ongoing financial restrictions, but having already taken so many steps to raise funds, balance our books and reduce the wage bill, time will tell what shape the squad is in when the window shuts and how much more Emery can get out of the group at his disposal.
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