Emiliano Buendía Stati (born 25 December 1996) is an Argentine professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or winger for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

, on loan from club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. Buendía's senior career began at

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

with whom he spent four years, including a short spell with Spanish club

Cultural Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

, before he moved to England, joining

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

in 2018 and Aston Villa in 2021.

Club career

Getafe

Born in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

, Argentina, Buendía started his career with

. On 30 March 2014, still a junior, he made his senior debut, starting for the reserves in a 2–1 away win against Puerta Bonita in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. He scored his first goal on 13 April, with the first of a 2–0 win away to Peña Sport. Buendía started the 2014–15 season still with the reserve team and in the third level, notably scoring twice in a 3–0 home win over

Fuenlabrada Fuenlabrada () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality. Placename The etymology of ''Fuenlabrada'' comes from the contra ...

. He played his first match as a professional on 5 December 2014, as a substitute for Ángel Lafita in a 3–0 home win against

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. Buendía made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 1 February 2015, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away loss against

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

. He scored his first goal in the same competition on 27 September, with the second in a 3–0 home win against Levante. On 5 July 2016, despite suffering relegation with Getafe at the end of the

2015–16 La Liga The 2015–16 La Liga season (known as the ''Liga Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, BBVA'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 85th since its establishment. FC Barcelona, Barcelona were the defending champions. The season began on 21 August 2015, a ...

season, Buendía signed a new five-year contract with the club. On 27 July 2017, he was loaned to fellow second-tier club

, for one year.

Norwich City

2018–2020

On 8 June 2018, Buendía signed a four-year deal with

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

. He scored his first goal for Norwich in a 1–0 win over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 27 October, and played an integral role as one of the main creative attacking players in the team – scoring 7 further league goals as the club swept to promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and the Championship title. Fans subsequently voted him into third place in the annual Player of the Season awards. On 8 July 2019, he signed a new five-year contract to stay at Norwich until the June 2024. During December 2019, Buendía created 29 chances for his teammates, which was the most chances created by a player in a single month in the Premier League since the stat began to be recorded in 2003–04. On 7 July 2020, Buendía scored his first goal in the Premier League, coming in a 2–1 away defeat to

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. Norwich would lose their next match to

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

, a result which confirmed their relegation back to the Championship after only a single season in the top flight.

2020–21 season: Promotion and Championship POTS

On 6 April 2021, Buendía scored once and provided three assists in a 7–0 victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. On 17 April, Norwich secured automatic promotion back into the Premier League, and secured the Championship title on 1 May with a 4–1 win over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. On 29 April, following a campaign in which Buendía scored 15 league goals and added a further 16 assists, he won the EFL Championship Player of the Season award. He was also named as Norwich's Player of the Season, becoming only the fourth player from outside the British Isles to win the award.

Aston Villa

On 7 June 2021, it was announced that an agreement had been reached for 24-year-old Buendía to be transferred to fellow Premier League club

once he had returned from international duty with Argentina. The deal was completed on 10 June. The transfer fee was believed to be worth around £33 million, rising to £38 million with potential bonuses, and was confirmed to be both Aston Villa's record signing and Norwich City's record sale. Buendía made his debut on 14 August 2021, in a 3–2 away loss to Watford on the opening day of the 2021–22 season. He scored his first goal for Villa on 28 August 2021, in a 1–1 draw at home to Brentford in the Premier League. On 9 August 2023, on the eve of the Premier League season, Buendía suffered what was described as a "significant knee injury" in training and would require a scan and treatment from a specialist. The injury was confirmed to be

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

which required surgery and meant that Buendía missed the entirety of the 2023–24 Aston Villa season. Buendía returned to training in May 2024 after 9 months out. Buendía's return to football came on 27 July 2024, almost a year to the day of his injury, in a pre-season friendly against

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

. Buendía made his Premier League comeback on 14 September 2024, as a late substitute in a 3–2 victory over Everton, after appearing as one of the permitted overage players in Aston Villa's U21 team in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

earlier in the month, scoring twice in a 3–2 victory over

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

. On 29 January 2025, Aston Villa announced that Buendía had signed a contract extension with the club, and would join

club

on loan until the end of the season.

International career

On 16 September 2014, Buendía was called up to the Spain under-19s. On 29 April of the following year, he was called up by Argentina under-20s for

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

, and joined the latter's training camp on 5 May 2015. In May 2021, Buendía was called up to the Argentina senior squad for the first time. On 1 February 2022, the 25-year-old made his debut in a 1–0 home victory over

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Getafe *

Segunda División play-offs 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Norwich City *

: 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual *EFL Championship Player of the Season: 2020–21 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2020–21 Championship *EFL Championship Team of the Season: 2020–21 * Norwich City Player of the Season: 2020–21

References

External links

Emiliano Buendía
at

Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English foot ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buendía, Emi 1996 births Living people Footballers from Mar del Plata Argentine men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Cadetes de San Martín players Getafe CF B players Getafe CF footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Norwich City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Segunda División B players La Liga players Segunda División players English Football League players Premier League players Spain men's youth international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Argentine emigrants to Spain 21st-century Argentine sportsmen 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Bundesliga players