Emi Buendia and Leeds United might be bound to unite one day. Daniel Farke is desperate to bring his former Norwich City man to Elland Road.
Emi Buendia fired Daniel Farke’s Norwich City to the Premier League in 2018/19. The Argentine scored 15 and assisted 16 to be named the Championship Player of the Year, and to earn himself a big money move to Aston Villa.
Though Buendia has steadily fallen out of favour at Villa Park. Leeds United wanted to sign Buendia in January but Villa had other ideas, sending him on loan to Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen who have a £16.7million option to buy Buendia in the summer.
So far though, all signs are pointing towards Leverkusen not signing the 28-year-old. He’s featured five times in the Bundesliga since joining and just one of those games has been a start, with Alonso seemingly not fancying the Villa loan man all that much.
It’s already been confirmed to Leeds United News that Farke will target Buendia in the summer, along with fellow January transfer target Cameron Archer at Southampton.
And now, Buendia has spoken out on his future amid recent reports linking him with a return to his native Argentina, with River Plate.
Emi Buendia rules out move to River Plate amid Leeds United links
Buendia has been in transfer headlines throughout the season it seems. And even though he’s at Leverkusen until the summer at least, there’s still speculation regarding where he’ll be playing next season, with River Plate the latest team to be linked with the attacking midfielder.
But Buendia himself has now ruled out a move to River Plate, insisting that he has unfinished business in Europe. Speaking to ESPN Deportes, Buendia has said: “Right now, the truth is I don’t see it happening. I’m not thinking about it because I hope I have many years left in Europe, which I’m really enjoying. We’ll see in the future. Obviously, for me, River Plate is the most beautiful club in the world, and I’m a fan of it, and we’ll see what happens.”
Before joining Leverkusen, Buendia signed a contract extension at Villa Park, extending his deal from 2026 to the summer of 2027 instead.
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The player who Leeds United will target if they can’t sign Emi Buendia
In January and ahead of the summer, it seems like Buendia is the prime target for Farke who looks to be in desperate need if a new no.10 with Brenden Aaronson failing to provide the goods right now.
But it’s previously been revealed that, if Farke can’t bring in Buendia then Leeds United will target Gustavo Hamer at Sheffield United instead. Of course, though, if the Blades are promoted then that deal is pretty much dead in the water.
Leverkusen hold the cards with Buendia right now, since they have an option to buy. But after a pretty poor start to life in Germany, the chances of Leverkusen paying nearly £17million to sign Buendia seem very slim indeed.
It might be that Leeds becomes the best option for Buendia who’ll have interest, no doubt, but maybe not from the top teams in Europe.
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