Name: Emiliano Buendia
Club: Norwich City
Date of Birth: 25 December 1996
Position: Winger (Right/ Left), Centre-forward, Midfielder (Attacking)
Emiliano Buendia – his career so far
Emiliano Buendia arrived at Norwich City an already well-established albeit a very young player and has grown into an influential figure for the Canaries ever since. Of course, at the age of 23, he is yet to reach his full potential or his prime years and it feels like his development is going in the right direction at the very moment.
But the Argentine forward has had a very colourful career prior to joining up with the now Premier League outfit in the summer of 2018. Before that, he spent the entirety of his young career back in Spain, starting off at Real Madrid’s academy before marking his first senior steps with Getafe.
Of course, he wouldn’t just slot right into their first-team but had to advance through the development squads, registering appearances for their B team before making a big step-up and joining the La Liga outfit on the top level.
His first real steps with Getafe B were at the beginning of the 2014/15 season and in December 2014 he would play his first professional game in a Copa del Rey clash against SD Eibar. His La Liga debut wasn’t far away either and he made his bow on February 2015, coming on as a late substitute in a 0–1 away loss against UD Almeria.
Buendia ended up playing 34 games for their B team, scoring seven goals and assisting one more in the process as well. As far as the first-team ventures go, he can boast with three goals and one assist across 39 games played.
Interestingly enough, before he moved to England, there was one more stop he had to make. He was loaned out to Cultural Leonesa, where he mustered 42 appearances with seven goals and 12 assists, and then, upon his return to Getafe, a deal was struck that took him to Norwich City.
There, he already played a total of 71 games, scoring eight goals and providing an impressive 24 assists under his belt along the way.
Transfer latest
There seem to be quite a few transfer rumours and transfer news on the mill surrounding Norwich’s young attacking player. According to some recent reports, the likes of Atletico Madrid could be interested in acquiring his services come the summer transfer window.
Of course, with his La Liga experience and a good season over in the Premier League despite the team’s collective struggles, that particular Norwich City news doesn’t really come as a surprise. But even despite his limited return in terms of the final product, Buendia has been an outstanding performer throughout 2019/20.
Still, his current contract is set to expire in the summer of 2024 so the Canaries can be fairly confident they will at least be adequately compensated in the worst-case scenario. Only time will tell, though.
Player profile
Apart from being able to provide his teammates with assists in the final third, Buendia is an outstanding creative outlet that is often behind his team’s attacking efforts. He has a knack of sending in deadly key passes and completely unlocking the opposition’s blocks in the process.
But he can also come in clutch and chip in with goals when he’s given the chance. Usually, he will prefer to be deployed in central areas as an attacking midfielder just behind the striker but can also start out wide and then cut inside and wreak havoc.
He will often operate through his respective half-space and is great at identifying and exploiting free pockets of space in the opposition’s defensive line. But he will often make bursting runs to follow up one of his teammate’s passes and can then finish the action himself.
Still, more often than not, he will be the one creating and serving those passes on a silver platter. And the best thing is the fact he can still improve and polish all of those skills as he steadily develops with time.