Emi Buendia

[eamonn]

My pal Santi from BAires said that there's talk that Buendia will take over a young player, Mastantuono,'s place in the team. He (Santi) had barely heard of Buendia when I converted him into a Villa fan!

The children's book market is saturated with celebrities having kids and thinking that makes them a creative. Can we get Lee Child to run with a Villa for Kids series?

Book One endorsed by Emi - The Little Prince with the Twinkle Toes

[aldridgeboy]

Fair play to Darren Fletcher on commentary for the 2nd goal.

‘Buendia with a beauty on the banks of The Bosphorus!’

Worth a new banner at Villa Park.

Great idea.

[Toronto Villa]

I imagine Big Emi might put in a word with the boss for Little Emi. He’s proven to be a player with a superb attitude and someone Argentina can call on to add some energy late on if they need it. He likely doesn’t get much playing time if selected but a good player in what will be a very deep squad.

[PeterWithesShin]

To go from a horrific injury, no one really wanting him to the season he's just had is stunning. And a credit to him, his attitude, workrate and ability.

[PeterWithesShin]

[Toronto Villa]

Posted by Onana on Instagram



Context

https://x.com/cleverlydey4u/status/2058291764604104940?s=46

[Tuscans]

Posted by Onana on Instagram



Context

https://x.com/cleverlydey4u/status/2058291764604104940?s=46

[PeterWithesShin]

The me guinely lol

[eamonn]

Such a bully.

[Ger Regan]

Great article from Tanswell in The Athletic. Such an amazing turnaround in fortunes for him and I'm delighted.

Going into the final week of the summer transfer window, Emiliano Buendia’s name was regularly discussed.

Aston Villa were offering him for sale and made it clear to several potential suitors that they were willing to sanction his exit. He was offered to Stuttgart, who would only propose a loan with an option to buy.

Having been burned once by another Bundesliga club in January — Buendia went on loan to Bayer Leverkusen in early 2025, only for them to reject the option to buy six months later — Villa preferred a permanent sale, wanting to create space in the squad for his replacement and, bluntly, needing the money.

Heading into a panicked deadline day, Buendia’s future was still shrouded in doubt, as it had been for more than a year.

Throughout, though, Buendia had wanted to stay. He was even more assertive in proving his worth to Unai Emery now, believing he had earned his manager’s trust over pre-season and with increased minutes in the early weeks of the campaign, even if this was influenced by the sale of fellow attacking midfielder Jacob Ramsey and Villa’s thinness of squad.

“The most important for the players and especially Buendia is his commitment,” said Emery in September. “He didn’t want to leave. He had the possibility, but he wanted to stay, be involved and work for Aston Villa. He shows it every day. I think he is going to be very important this year.”

Regardless of Emery’s encouraging assessment back then, Buendia’s overall season record of 11 goals and nine assists underlined a turnaround very few, aside from the midfielder himself, could have foreseen.

Emery, for his part, noted a change in the Argentina international in pre-season. Buendia returned to Bodymoor Heath, once it became clear Leverkusen did not want him, in excellent condition, seemingly moving quicker and adjusting to the rhythm of training sessions far better.

In this respect, he was more like his old self from two years earlier, prior to rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament two days before the opening match of the 2023-24 season. When he did return a full year later, Buendia accrued just 89 Premier League minutes in the first half of the next campaign.

“Surgery was a shame,” said a source close to the player, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Because before Emi got injured, he was at a great level. His performance in the last friendly against Valencia was impressive and in the next training session after, he got injured.”

“He had an injury for 10 months, and after he was training with us,” Emery explained to reporters last year. “He needed time to get in everything, good, mentally, physically confident, and he struggled last year and all the season, firstly with us for six months, not getting his performance and not playing consistently, and not feeling really good.

“When he was on loan in Germany, with Bayer Leverkusen, he didn’t achieve his confidence. He didn’t achieve minutes. He didn’t achieve the numbers to recover himself.”

The Buendia who came back last summer was different. The 29-year-old decided against going on holiday, instead training every day to ensure he hit the ground running in pre-season. During a tumultuous summer in which Ramsey had to be sold to meet the league’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) and Emery could not sign his preferred attacking midfield targets — eventual arrival Harvey Elliott proving an unlucky victim of muddled thinking and circumstance — Buendia’s appetite to remain energised a flat group.

The deadline passed and Buendia had stayed. The following week, Emery selected Elliott for the home fixture against Fulham, his one and only league start, only to hook him at half-time for Buendia. Emery was ultimately vindicated as Buendia scored and assisted in a 3-1 victory.

Buendia’s better understanding of the nuances involved in being an Emery No 10, plus now offering “offensive numbers”, as his manager would say, convinced the club he was worth investing in over the campaign.

“I thought there could be a chance (he could leave), but I always tried to refuse everything,” Buendia said after his player-of-the-match performance in the Europa League final. “I wanted to stay here. I wanted to play for this club.”

His renaissance has been emphatic and, in many ways, personifies Villa’s campaign. From starting the season as a rank outsider within Emery’s plans, Buendia transformed into a player who would feature in 54 matches and score the second goal of Villa’s Europa League final victory in Istanbul with a wonderful, supposedly weak-footed, whipped finish from outside the box.

His overall performance against Freiburg was all the more exceptional in light of a knee injury he had been managing earlier in the week that had stopped him from training.

Yet, then again, it was another case of Buendia’s resolve.

“When I substituted him at 80 minutes, he was angry,” Emery said post Europa League win. “I spoke with him this morning, ‘Are you OK? Are you 100 per cent? Yes? Then play’.”

While some others were not in the right physical condition to feature in the squad for the final day 2-1 victory at Manchester City, owing to the lingering effects of the Europa League celebrations, Buendia was one of three who started against Freiburg that also started here, and one of two, along with match-winner Ollie Watkins, to have played the full duration.

Despite frequent suspicions from supporters that Villa’s progression had surpassed his own level, Buendia has continued to perform and score when his team have needed him most. His quickness of feet for Watkins’ goal in the second leg semi-final against Nottingham Forest, producing a sharpness of movement he did not possess for some time after his ACL injury, ignited Villa Park into a frenzied tinderbox. His penalty then put Villa ahead in the tie.

“I wanted to stay to fight for a place,” Buendia told The Athletic after Istanbul. I believe in myself that I could be important for this team. I never made things easy for the coach, because he could trust me in these kinds of places. So I’m very happy and I want to enjoy it.”

Buendia will enter the final 12 months of his contract this summer, with discussions yet to take place over a new contract. They are scheduled, however, alongside Villa beginning negotiations to extend other players, such as Ezri Konsa and Youri Tielemans, once June 30, the end of the financial year, has passed.

Should a new contract be the conclusion of those talks, it would be a deserved reward for a player whose qualities may have now recovered, but his determination and desire had never been in question.

[Steve67]

Great article, thanks for posting. Buendia got better and better as the season wore on. 20 goals or assists is a great return. Credit where it’s due.

[Monty]

I'm biased, sure, but Tanswell is my Hack Of The Year. Been a difficult season for many of the big hitters, with longtime champion journos like Wilson and Delaney seemingly going backwards, and Jonny Liew avoiding relegation by the skin of his teeth. Fancy-ass playing-out-from-the-back articles are out of favour; direct, defensively-sound, data-driven work is to the forefront. But Tanswell can combine that soundness of underlying metrics with a good old-fashioned bit tear-jerkery when called for, and for that, I think, he scoops the gong.

[Smithy]

I think Emi is one of those players who plays better with better players around them.  We're lucky to have a few like that.

[Dogtanian]

Fingers crossed he gets to go to the World Cup.