Monday 7th June 2021:
The day that all Norwich Fans dreaded and a date that Villa fans were quite keen on as the announcement of record signing Emiliano Buendia from the Canaries for a Fee of 33 million pounds rising to 35 million pounds with add-ons and a 10% sell on fee inserted in the deal.
Going back to 5th May 2019 and Buendia had just beat his future side in a Championship winning Campaign he then had an uneventful Premier League stint with 1 Goal and 7 Assists, but he impressed with some incredible dribbling and skills, Norwich got relegated that season and went straight back into the EFL Championship.
It was the 2020-2021 season that was the best for Emiliano Buendia with 15 goals and 16 assists in 39 games. Emi Buendia’s lofted balls through to Pukki and his passes on the edge of the box that gave Norwich a whopping 75 goals and 29 wins in the 2020-2021 season. Buendia can score inside and outside of box with 10 and 5 goals respectfully. He also smashed his xG of 11.9 scoring 3.1 goals more than that. As for Buendia’s passing play in 20/21 he made 1890 passes, 122 of which were key passes.
In 121 games for Norwich, he amassed 24 goals and 26 assists
His discipline was an issue in seasons prior to this and 20/21 itself, in total 6 yellows a season to make 18 yellows in total and Emi also accumulated 4 red cards.
As for how Buendia will fit in villa’s system obviously that depends on the future of Villa captain Jack Grealish, which may be departing for 95 million to Manchester City but that is another story for another time.
It is unlikely Dean Smith will change his entire system for Emi Buendia but what I would recommend to the gaffer is that he plays the wingers in a more advanced and forward role, playing them ahead of the number 10 instead of level with him. The system for attacking for Villa will still be a front four and as it stands as of the 23rd of June 2021 it looks like Grealish will play number 10 with Buendia and Bertrand Traore playing on the wings providing crosses for the Striker Ollie Watkins.
One of the main aspects of Aston Villa’s game that Buendia would add to is the fact that their Right-Back Matty Cash will have acres of space to advance forwards and get involved in the attacking play that Aston Villa like to produce. Cash can also play out wide as the opposition defenders will be forced to play a narrow line with the presence of Buendia in this Villa team. Buendia can produce a variety of movement to keep rival defenders trying to guess as to what he will do next which will produce huge areas of space for his other team mates to get into.
At the time of writing, it is unclear whether Jack Grealish will be donning the Villa Park pitch alongside Emi Buendia, but a new contract is on the table and Buendia was told he would be playing alongside Grealish when signing the 5 year contract. Grealish is subject of a potential £100m move to Manche
In terms of the technical ability of Emi Buendia he is a confident player when on the ball and has excellent ball control, his positional awareness and intelligence allows him to drift into half and quarter spaces on the pitch and stick close to his striker which means that at Villa he only has to make short sharp passes into Ollie Watkins and the combination of quick one-two passing patterns can muddle and confuse the defences of some of the best teams in the country such as how instrumental he was in Norwich’s 3-2 win over Manchester City in the 2019/2020 Premier League Season.
So, to conclude Emi Buendia will provide constant crosses much like Grealish and draws fouls like him so it might be a replacement for Grealish, not that it is the same position, but because Emi likes to be the main main and forefront of any team he plays in. No team will be able to cope with both on one pitch, it is going to be an exciting couple of seasons here for the Villa
Comments