Emi Buendia (on loan at Bayer Leverkusen)

[eye digress]

I felt that part of the misfiring last night was the lack of chemistry with Duran. It seemed to me that they were getting frustrated with each other, as typified by the goal (initially, it wasn't clear to me who actually struck the ball). Buendia's incessant (and failed) dribbling seemed to be a response to that.

[Drummond]

From chosen one to cast off in 14 months.

[Risso]

From chosen one to cast off in 14 months.

That's progress I suppose. Emery has mentioned the fact that McGinn and Bailey aren't as good as they were last season, a couple of times now, so he's clearly not here to make friends or fuck about.

[Demitri_C]

From chosen one to cast off in 14 months.

I thought buendias always been a goid player but not that level that will get to top level. Not sure what impact that i jury has had on him but he looks miles off it at the moment.

Might have been a good idea to have loaned him in the summer to get more minutes see how he does. There will be a lit of interest in him from championship i would imagine if we werrle to sell

[Rigadon]

I was never a massive fan of Buendia.  He's always been too easy to knock off the ball and doesn't have any one outstanding quality at this level.  That said he never hides and I would imagine would be a great addition to a bottom half side or in a less exacting European league.  He certainly is not the answer for a side in the champions league.  I always measure a players worth by what they bring to the side / squad and whether a side in a similar / better situation would like to buy.  The respective answers are now "not much" and "definitely not".  Probably sounds harsh for a player returning after a long and serious injury, but he looks like he's always looked to me.   

[eamonn]

I'm very fond of him - when he receives the ball, he has that low centre of gravity and spark that makes you sit up as he tries to make something happen.

[eye digress]

I always measure a players worth by what they bring to the side / squad and whether a side in a similar / better situation would like to buy.  The respective answers are now "not much" and "definitely not".

We purchased him from under the noses of (an admittedly less good) Arsenal at the time.

[LeeB]

He took a ball with a brilliant touch at one point last night, then held on to the ball too long when there was a pass on and got mugged, and it kind of summed up his time with us.

He loses the ball in positions where we're commiting forward and it leaves us exposed in transition.

He's one of most frustrating players to watch because he has superb vision and class at times but he's more of a danger to us than the opposition when he's not on it, which is too frequent.

[Rigadon]

I always measure a players worth by what they bring to the side / squad and whether a side in a similar / better situation would like to buy.  The respective answers are now "not much" and "definitely not".

We purchased him from under the noses of (an admittedly less good) Arsenal at the time.

Would they try and buy him if he were for sale now?

[eye digress]

Would they try and buy him if he were for sale now?

Would any club buy a player 2 months into a comeback following a 12-month injury layoff?

I mean, we all have different opinions on players, and fair enough. But I can't see how that question is really relevant to Buendia right now.

[LeeB]

Would they try and buy him if he were for sale now?

Would any club buy a player 2 months into a comeback following a 12-month injury layoff?

I mean, we all have different opinions on players, and fair enough. But I can't see how that question is really relevant to Buendia right now.

It's a moot point anyway as they've also moved on from where they were when we were both in for him.

I think he was being replaced by Diaby in his role when he got injured, I know he'd been good pre-season to his credit but that was the idea. But then Diaby got made redundant by Rogers, who is now just about indispensable, so at best he's going to back up Rogers for now and get the kind of fleeting 10-15 mins now and then that Duan got last season, although I'd have concerns putting him on seeing out the end of games due to him giving the ball away unnecessarily.

[eye digress]

Yes, it's a moot point.

And I think that's exactly how he should be used right now, as a late replacement for Rogers or for longer when the latter inevitably goes glass-eyed in February or March because he's being overplayed and Buendia himself may be back up to speed.

I think the jury's out. In the period prior to his injury he played very well. One question, as posed by a few here, is whether that level good enough for us now. Another is whether he will ever get back to that level anyway – not so far on the evidence we saw last night, which was disappointing when compared to Kamara and Mings, who returned later.

[LeeB]

In the Athletic piece about Mings return there was mention that Leeds were after Buendia in the summer bug neither he or us were interested, so I think we do want to see if he can recover but that's the likely level of interest if it doesn't work out.

[JUAN PABLO]

Can see him off in January and replaced by someone like Álex Baena

[Demitri_C]

Can see him off in January and replaced by someone like Álex Baena

We dont tend to do much business in jan unless we have a major injury crisis. I think summer is more likely