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£30m Aston Villa player would look at signing for Leeds if they got promoted

Charles Jones

Fri 17 January 2025 8:55, UK

Leeds United are knocking on the door of returning to the Premier League, but, as ever, a club chasing promotion in the Championship needs that one final push to get them over the line.

The January transfer window is open, and Leeds will want to be make some additions this month.

Leeds have been linked with Ben Davies from Tottenham, and he’s not the only Premier League player the Whites are looking at.

Indeed, according to Ben Jacobs, speaking on The View Podcast, Leeds are also looking at Aston Villa’s Emi Buendia, but a move in January may not be possible.

• READ MORE: Aston Villa have now made contact to sign £38.8m Chelsea player

Emi Buendia to Leeds current state of play

According to Jacobs, Leeds have asked about Buendia, but this deal won’t be easy to do.

The journalist says that the man isn’t keen on dropping back down to the Championship, but he is open to joining Leeds should they become a Premier League side this summer.

Buendia was linked to Arsenal not too long ago, but, sadly, injuries have derailed his career in recent times.

“Villa are not giving Leeds any structural option that would be conducive to a club-to-club agreement. The reason they have not escalated it is because the seller has the cards so early in the window, and secondly Buendia doesn’t want to drop to the Championship either.

“The player is kind of open to Leeds, but only in the Premier League, so in the final days of the window he could change his mind to do five or six months in the Championship and then there’s an obligation that if they don’t go up to the Premier League they can get out anyway.”

“Having made the initial inquiry, the feedback Leeds had was that the player was not interested in dropping to the Championship and nothing has progressed.”

Emi Buendia Championship stats

Buendia isn’t keen on dropping back down to the Championship, and, in a lot of ways, that is a shame.

This is a player who needs more gametime, and watching Buendia play for a dominant team in the second-tier is one of the great sights in English football.

Buendia has, of course, played for Daniel Farke in the Championship before with Norwich City, and he was utterly incredible for the Canaries in that period.

Buendia was unreal the last time he was in the Championship, but he’s not so keen to return to the division where he thrived last time around.

Leeds would stand a chance of landing Buendia if they were promoted, but whether or not you want to sign such an injury-prone player when you’re trying to stay in the Premier League is another question entirely.

As Jacobs says, Buendia could still change his mind, and this is a situation to keep an eye on.