Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has seemingly opened the door for a possible January exit for Emiliano Buendia.
The 28-year-old sustained a serious knee injury on the eve of last season, and subsequently missed the entire campaign as he went through a gruelling rehabilitation and recovery process.
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Thankfully, Buendia has been able to make his return this season as he’s made 18 appearances across all competitions, scoring three goals, but the majority of those outings have come in the latter stages of games off the bench in a limited role.
While he’s been able to make a positive impact when involved in recent weeks, the question marks over his future remain as it’s still been a bit-part role for the Argentine playmaker, and there’s little to suggest that that’ll change, particularly with the emergence of Morgan Rogers and signing of Donyell Malen.
It’s hoped that this isn’t the end for Buendia in a Villa shirt as it would be such a shame to see him leave, with his injury blow likely proving to be a major reason in that given he was an Emery favourite in the Villa XI prior to the setback.
However, the Villa boss has opened the door for an exit this month, perhaps temporary at this stage rather than permanent, as he feels as though it would benefit Buendia to get regular and consistent playing time to rediscover his peak condition and form.
“He (Buendia) had last year a long injury but he started this year progressively getting better,” Emery said, as per the Express and Star. “He didn’t feel 100 per cent in the season until now. But now he is playing more minutes and helping the team.
“But maybe he can have the possibility to leave. For him, it could be something where he can play more, get more minutes, get confidence again and being comfortable playing again in the starting XI. Of course, now he is helping us and I am happy with his attitude.”
Sentiment aside, it’s the sensible decision for all concerned as Buendia isn’t going to benefit enough from the odd 10 minutes here and there off the bench compared to playing week in and week out elsewhere and making his case that he still has a future at Villa.
Such is the competition for places and the way in which Villa have evolved over the past year or so though, he faces a real battle to get back into the starting line-up, and our early exit from the Carabao Cup certainly didn’t help his cause, having been a starter in our two games in the competition.
Time will tell if it’s a loan or permanent exit this month, or if a departure even materialises at all, but with 18 months remaining on his current Villa contract, this could unfortunately signal the start of the end of Buendia’s time with us.
Hopefully that isn’t the case as he remains an asset, but such is the competition and depth in the current Villa squad, it’s difficult to not have doubts, despite his brilliant attitude and desire to salvage his future at the club.
