Aston Villa have confirmed that Emiliano Buendia has joined Bayer Leverkusen on loan for the remainder of the season.
The 28-year-old has battled back through a gruelling rehabilitation process after suffering a serious knee injury on the eve of last season, and has featured 19 times so far in this campaign.
READ MORE: Villa ace drops possible Mings injury recovery timeline hint
However, with most of those outings coming off the bench in a bit-part role in the latter stages of games, question marks have been raised over his future at the club in recent months.
Villa have now confirmed that Buendia has joined Leverkusen on loan until the end of the season, but importantly, they have also announced that the Argentine playmaker has penned a contract extension prior to leaving.
It’s smart business from the club given Buendia’s previous deal had 18 months remaining on it, and so we should ideally be in a stronger position to demand a bigger fee in the summer if it looks as though he will leave on a permanent basis, and Leverkusen don’t opt to exercise their reported option to buy worth around £17m, as reported by BirminghamLive.
Nevertheless, it’s a shame to see Buendia leave as having been a key figure following Unai Emery’s arrival, his injury has seemingly derailed his time with us significantly.
It has led to him falling down the pecking order as the likes of Morgan Rogers and Donyell Malen have arrived to bolster Emery’s options in the attacking third, and although he continued to show great desire, commitment and determination whenever involved, it appears it wasn’t enough to stay with us for the remainder of the season.
It’s in everyone’s best interests now that his loan stint proves to be a success, as Leverkusen will benefit from his quality, Buendia will secure a more prominent role and Villa will either get a more confident and in-form player back in the summer or will sell on for a significant fee.
While it had been hoped that Buendia could still play a role for us, we wish him well during his time with the reigning Bundesliga champions.
