It’s been an inconsistent stint for Emiliano Buendia since he joined Aston Villa in 2021, but the Argentine playmaker is all set for a big year this season.
In 78 appearances for Villa, the 26-year-old has scored nine goals and provided nine assists, and for a player with his ability and qualities, we should expect more from him even though he continues to play an important role in the side regardless.
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The key difference now though is that he has a coach in Unai Emery who clearly believes in him and expects him to play a fundamental role in his side. Of those nine goals and nine assists, four of his goals and two assists came in 25 games under the Spanish tactician last season.
While we saw improvements as Buendia played his part in helping us finish seventh in the Premier League table and qualify for Europe, he set what will hopefully prove to be a marker down this past weekend.
As seen in the video below, the Argentine ace was in top form in our 3-3 draw with Newcastle Utd in Philadelphia on Sunday, and yes while it is just pre-season, beyond the goals and assist, his overall play, positioning and influence on how we created openings in the final third was exactly what we want to see.
It was by no means perfect, as he did misplace passes at times. However, he’s a rare option in many ways in this Villa squad, as he has the vision, passing range and technical ability to try things in the final third, and he isn’t afraid to play the difficult pass that could open up a defence and create chances.
Emery himself was particularly pleased with his performance on Sunday, and it’s evident that there is a clear plan and role that he wants Buendia to play where he can be as decisive as he was in the first of three pre-season friendlies in the USA.
“Yes, he was excellent,” Emery said, as per BirminghamLive. “We are trying to get with him his quality behind the midfield line and when he is playing and starting like a left winger and going inside, today he was perfect. Then, he can progress doing assists and getting into the box like he did today. His performance was very good and of course we want our players to get fit and then confidence to play with his qualities.”
Buendia himself was pleased with his performance, but he was still disappointed that he didn’t contribute more, and that is the mentality he needs to have to continue to increase his goal contribution numbers.
“I’m quite happy to score goals and get an assist again,” he told VillaTV. “I think I should have scored another one in the second half but I hadn’t been in that situation too often, so I didn’t know what to do.
“I’ll keep training those situations so that I can score the next one. I’m happy with the game today.”
While we saw so many key individuals raise their respective games and improve under Emery last season, there is still so much more to come from some of them which will allow them to become increasingly influential for us.
Buendia falls into that category as we haven’t quite got the best out of him yet, but his partnership with Ollie Watkins is improving and with the addition of Moussa Diaby’s quality in the final third, it’s hoped that they can strike up a brilliantly balanced and potent attacking trident.
With Diaby’s pace and movement off the ball complementing that of Watkins, Buendia should have two electric options to find in the final third this season, and it’s on him to get the execution right on a consistent basis to ensure we’re a real handful against any side moving forward.
Emery has versatility and flexibility in his squad now too with John McGinn deployed higher up the pitch in front of Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara on Sunday, while Jaden Philogene played wide right and Buendia operated on the opposite flank.
With Diaby, Jacob Ramsey, Philippe Coutinho, Bertrand Traore and Leon Bailey also options to play wide or in more advanced roles, there is already competition for places, but it’s down to Buendia now to set himself apart from the rest of the group and prove that he’s capable of pulling the strings for us in attack week in and week out.
There were some really positive signs at the Lincoln Financial Field this past weekend, and that goes beyond just his individual performance and more to the direction, flow and structure of Villa’s play in general. If he can flourish within that in his creative role and start contributing more, he’s got a big year under Emery ahead of him.
⚽️⚽️🅰️ @EM10Buendia
We were treated to a special performance from @AVFCOfficial's No 10 in the #PLSummerSeries ✨ pic.twitter.com/N05oeJBlZt
— Premier League (@premierleague) July 24, 2023