Aston Villa are set to seal the signing of Emiliano Buendia from Norwich City, and Dean Smith will no doubt be delighted to land the Argentine international.
As noted by the club on their official site, we have reached an agreement with the Canaries for the transfer of the 24-year-old, and he will shortly undergo a medical and complete his move this week.
READ MORE: Aston Villa news: Ward-Prowse move touted after Buendia swoop
With the formalities set to be taken care of in the coming days, the focus will switch to how he fits the current team and what he can bring to the club in order to help us continue to progress and compete at the top level.
While Buendia enjoyed a stellar campaign with Norwich last season as he helped fire them back to the Premier League, the partnership that he’ll build with Jack Grealish and Ollie Watkins is certainly something for the Villa faithful to look forward to next season.
Grealish x Watkins + Buendia = 🔥#AVFC #UTV 🟣🔵 pic.twitter.com/nrM3HfesE3
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) June 7, 2021
As detailed in the statistics above, the Argentine ace was a real threat in front of goal both in terms of his goals and his creativity in producing assists for his teammates.
He was consistent throughout the campaign in causing the opposition defence problems in the final third, while interestingly he clearly worked hard for his teammates as he made his fair share of tackles too.
That is a key attribute in a Smith side given how we like to press high up the pitch and squeeze our opponents in their own half to force mistakes and in turn take advantage to score goals.
With the work-rate and pressure from the likes of Watkins and Buendia, that will allow us to do more of that in an organised fashion, and so the latter’s impact will also be felt off the ball as well as on it.
That said, Villa are primarily signing Buendia for his quality in an attacking sense, and as seen in the video below, he certainly knows how to produce in the final third.
Watching his highlights from last season, what is perhaps the most exciting aspect is that it’s easy to see why Villa and Smith were so keen to sign him, as he could be a perfect fit for our starting XI.
From latching on to balls over the top from Mings using his pace and awareness, to breaking from midfield into attack and sliding in through balls for Watkins to get on the end of. Combine that with his potential link-up play with Grealish, and that trio in particular could be a real nightmare for our rivals next season.
Watkins will no doubt relish having both Grealish and Buendia behind him creating opportunities and opening up space that he can exploit, and so it really does look like a superb move from Villa, provided that the chemistry and attributes click as hoped on the pitch when it matters.
Villa have started the summer transfer window off well with the addition of Buendia, now it will be interesting to see what other moves we make to complement him as we try to continue to improve and develop the squad.
⏳🇦🇷🔜#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/xdsEsT7C1K
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) June 6, 2021