According to various reports, Norwich City have turned down approaches from Arsenal and Aston Villa after both made £30 million offers for playmaker Emiliano Buendia.
While the newly-promoted Canaries would prefer to keep the Argentina international, it’s understood they are open to a deal if their asking price, thought to be nearer the £40 million mark, is met.
It’s no secret that Mikel Arteta is looking to add a creative midfielder to his options this summer.
Yesterday, the Gunners confirmed that Martin Odegaard, on loan from Real Madrid since January, was returning to the Bernabeu. While a potential deal for the Norwegian isn’t yet dead in the water, it’s looking increasingly likely that the Spanish giants will try to better integrate him next season. In light of the situation, it appears we’re stepping up the interest in Buendia.
The 24-year-old was named the Championship player of the season after spearheading Norwich’s title success, scoring 15 goals and made 17 assists in 41 games.
Lured to Spain by Real Madrid, he spent seven years on the books at Getafe before moving to Carrow Road in 2018, off the back of a loan spell at Spanish second-tier side Cultural Leonesa, for £2.25 million. Despite the club’s relegation form, he enjoyed an eye-catching debut year in the Premier League registering seven assists in 36 games.
Many thought he’d be snapped up by a bigger club last summer but he decided to stick things out with Norwich, who also kept faith with manager Daniel Farke, and has been justly rewarded.
Buendia is currently in South America preparing for Argentina’s Copa America campaign. The tournament, which until recently was due to take place in his home country and Colombia, is now set to be played in Brazil. Given the tournament starts this weekend, it seems unlikely his future will be decided until he returns to England.
Ok
This bloke is a great little player and would instantly improve us. We really must not turn out noses up at signing the best player from a team who finished 12 places below us in the football pyramid just because Norwich isn’t a glamorous name.
It leaves us in an interesting position with Odegaard though. I feel like Arteta would prefer Odegaard,, who could well still be available. But we do need to act fast and decisively about Buendia with Villa sniffing around.
I suppose we are keeping our options open at present but I think if Madrid are dilly dallying about Odegaard, we have to sign Buendia and accept that, for now at least, our love affair with Odegaard is at an end.
What also worries me is that if Arteta wants to sign Odegaard and Buendia, then maybe these ESR rumours could be true to raise funds.
As someone who believes that ESR actually has the highest ceiling of these three players, I would be utterly distraught to see Smith Rowe go and would seriously question my loyalty to Arteta if he made a move like that.
There is no way we going to sell ESR
Not a chance ESR leaves. Its just made up stories because most media wants clicks which adds to their revenue.
Famous last words
We should all be able to look past some of these click bait stories. ESR is definitely not for sell. Sterling and mahrez are definitely not arsenal targets too.
Id rather trust click bait than fans who say the word ‘definitely’ in silly season.
Lion is definitely fill of shit doh
Right!? Can people apply a little common sense
ESR is going nowhere!
I hope you’re all right (and think you probably are). There have been a few occasions when Smith Rowe has been benched in favour of Odegaard so you do feel Arteta often prefers the technical style of the Norwegian.
Personally I think ESR needs the number 10 shirt and whoever comes in needs to play second fiddle until they’ve proven they can provide the same or more that the Croydon KDB.
I think that Arteta has done a good job in managing ESR’s minutes given his injury record so I wouldn’t read too much into that.
People keep saying this but ESR was injured briefly and came back into the team slowly, with Odegaard preferred. Once he was fit he started every game.
Can we stop calling him the Croydon De Bruyne as well?
He competes against him in the same league for heaven’s sake.
I’m with you. In fact I’ve always thought of Kevin De Bruyne as a Drongen Smith-Rowe…
When Smith Rowe came in as a number 10, it helped transform the way we played. But if you go back and watch those matches, Smith Rowe was only okay there–it was the change in formation and attitude that made the difference, not any brilliance on his part. Smith Rowe got better as the season continued–but almost always as an extremely fluid forward starting on the left, not a 10. And he was at his very best when Saka and Odegaard were there for him to interchange with. I would like to see Odegaard at Arsenal permanently, and believe he… Read more »
Nah, this club had Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri, Arshavin, Ramsey, Wilshere, and Diaby (when fit), along with a raft of (mediocre) deeper midfielders all on the roster at the same time.
Arteta is building back toward an attacking midfield strength.
We’ll surely be cutting in the forwards and defenders and some of the peripheral players. Besides, we’ve already seen Arteta utilizing ESR in the wide areas too. He’ll get time for sure.
I think we’re going to see movement back toward that buzzing, technical midfield / attack we had for so long. While maintaining our better defense, hopefully.
Didn’t win much with them. I’m all for midfield technical ability, but not at the expense of deep cuts to our forward line.
If we get a decent offer for Nketiah, maybe. Beyond that, any forward sales better be replaced with other forwards. The midfielders should be over and above that.
I’m all for signings like this, we’ve been far too snobbish in our recruitment.
Every top club must be kicking themselves not signing Grealish when Villa were a Championship side
It wasn’t snobbery. Every club knew about Grealish and there were many offers. He wanted to stay at Villa.
But no one signed him and I’m sure it’s a massive regret for many
I’d prefer not to be in a bidding war for him, especially as there seems to be little evidence of how he would perform at PL level.
Would prefer us to be ahead of the game for players like this.
There’s a season’s worth of evidence from the season before last. He was their best player then at 22-23. He’s only going to get better. I’m all for signing him. Better than letting Villa get him then having to pay double in a couple years time. We need to be making these sorts of signings early. Like we did with Tierney. We’ve missed out on too many players (Van Dijk etc) when we could have had them cheap.
What he’s saying is that £40 million is what you pay for a finished player, not an untested prospect.
If he ends up costing £60-80 million, he’s out of our price range.
However, if we’re going to buy someone on potential, we shouldn’t be spending this much.
Van Dijk cheap? I guess you mean when he went from Celtic to Southampton when, indeed, no one knew how good he would become. Not much different than when we got Gabriel (Paulista, not the current one). Our guy turned out pretty good, but not quite good enough; Van Dijk turned out much better–but no one could have known. Once he began to show his quality, there was nothing cheap about it. An endless saga at Southampton, illegal approaches from Liverpool, a transfer request (a demand, really) and finally a world-record transfer fee.
Of course I’m talking about when Southampton bought him from Celtic. We were linked with him then and passed on it. £33m for Buendia isn’t earth shattering money and while he’s not the finished product he’s shown plenty to suggest that’s a pretty cheap price. Another misses opportunity now, it seems.
Finally a low risk transfer. 3 seasons of consistent performances in the English game.
Not at that price it isn’t.
I hope he doesn’t turn out to be like Michu, having a great season-plus before fading off.
Injury kill michu’s career not talent
Better (a year) late, than never.
2nd this. We could have had him last year at probably 60% of the fee. People are acting like last season was him bursting onto the scene. He was quality in the EPL (1 goal, 7 assits). In 19/20, He also created 9 big chances (18th in the whole league – better than any Arsenal player); 83 key passes (4th in the whole league – better than any Arsenal player); 101 dribbles out of 141 attempts (4th and 5th in the league – yes better than any Arsenal player). The only real difference has been the improvement on his finishing,… Read more »
I’m all for buying Buendia but you know last year if we bought him most fans would be having a moan about lack of ambition and how is a one-goal creative player going to help us
Good thing Mikel has made us see what the true ambition of the club is.
I think we need to be kinder (to) buendia.
Can you explain this cultural reference to us slower folk…
Buendia = goodday
Kinder = chocolate egg with choking hazard inside.
Manu’s handbag is saying this appears to be a sweet deal but we may find if we over commit financially in one position, we may choke next season.
It’s either very clever or I shouldn’t have smoked that blunt for breakfast. You decide!
I think “Kinder Bueno” is the joke.
Over 30m sounds like a lot.
Relative to 70m for pepe?
You’re the only one talking about Pepe here, for no reason.
Unless you’re talking grains of sand – that’s a mere 2 cups! You can’t even build a single tower castle with 2 cups!
If you mean dollars… then yes, that is a lot. Unquestionably. But for player of the season in the Championship, on a team that got promoted, he can’t come as cheaply as the players going the other way.
Certainly does, I’d be surprised if Norwich don’t want a good bit more as well.
We have to improve our midfield. Thomas Partey is quality but the rest two options Xhaka and Elneny are not. People saying Xhaka is our second best cm is true but only because we only have those three players. We really have to improve on that.
Also if we are really chasing bissouma, then i hope we don’t make the mistake of going for sander berge over bissouma like we did with kante and xhaka.
If we sell Xhaka we need 2 central midfielders. We already need to add depth in the CM position.
Emi can also play in midfield. Think Santi Cazorla. He’s actually a pretty similar player. I’m a massive fan, I was disappointed we were so enamoured with Aouar last season and didn’t follow up on Buendia then.
However, I agree we’ll need one more midfielder also with Xhaka likely (and hopefully) moving on. I’d be chuffed if it was Lokonga. He looks very much out of the mould of Bissouma at a fraction of the price and he’s also Belgian so we wouldn’t lose another to the AFCON.
I’d like to see Buendia next to Partey too, at least when ESR is playing. The Cazorla comparison sounds good to me.
But we still need another player, as Xhaka will probably go too. I’d love Sabitzer, even more after his game against England.
I’ve hoped for Sabitzer for ages and always been sad to see him linked to Spurs. Really think he’d do well for us
Probably turns out he’s best mates with Emi Martinez and he’ll persuade him to go to Aston Villa. But seriously though can’t believe he’d choose them over us.
There’s a good chance Villa will sell Grealish for big money, and then they’ll clean us out in a bidding war
But we will do the same with Willian, don’t worry.
Sign him up if he is suitable. we need to be more shrewd in our dealings and get set for the new season. no more deadline transfer, it hardly work.
If we sign him, it’ll be a….. Good day (!!!)
…..
………..
………………
Fine, i’ll get my coat.
Here’s how this will go: We’ll make a few offers below asking, and walk away over a disagreement over a few million quid. Then we’ll wait for RM to decide if Odeegard is staying or going. Naturally, they’ll decide he’s staying on the last day of the window. In turn, we’ll panic buy Mario Lanzini for 12 million£ on the the final day of the window. The Kroenkes will pat themselves on the back for a job well done, but we’ll finish 13th and lose the money we saved by making less on our final PL position pay out. Sorry,… Read more »
Is this one of the guys from 100 years of solitude?
He’s one of the 17 sons to unknown women of the first Aureliano.
I didn’t know what this was. So I googled it.
The book has a picture of a woman with her tits out on it!
Nice.
I was hoping someone would make this link. Seems like the Colonel had many children indeed 😜.
Am I the only one unimpressed by the fact that’s it’s a 30 million pound transfer for the championships best player. Surely there must be better options. The squad is too average to begin with
In 2019/20 in the EPL Emi was:
4th in the league in key passes (83; better than any Arsenal player);
4th in the league in successful dribbles (101; better than any Arsenal player);
5th in the league in attempted dribbles (141; better than any Arsenal player);
18th in the league in big chances created (9; better than any Arsenal player);
Now he is banging in goals too, just to cap it off!
I get the criticism of the signing and the price, but 30m could be a good deal. Villa bought Watkins for similar from the Championship and he’s torn it up, Buendia on the other hand is already prem tested and excelled in a relegated side. Also, couldn’t we sign him AND keep Ødegaard? With Willian and Nelson potentially leaving, we’re not flush with attacking midfield or wide options.
And the fact that Odegaard is a link man but Buendia is more a final ball kind of guy
We need both players during the time of Wenger we have creating midfielders and it shows in our play, chances created in a game and goals scored. If we observed our chances creation and goals scored has come down after Wenger. Why because we lack creative midfielders, that is why we are blaming Auba and Lacca this season. But how many chances do our midfielders created this season compared with top 6 teams? How many chances are they creating per game. So need creative midfielders that can score too not waiting for strikers only.
Buendia > Odegaard any day.
Get it done Edu.
Agree, he’s two footed, way better defensively, scores and assists and can play CM, AM, wing. More versatile and a better all round player IMO. Not saying Odegaard is bad, he’s very good, I just think from everything I’ve seen of buendia for the last two seasons he is a better player and is improving rapidly reach year. He’s exactly what we need.
The bigger news is Arsenal possibly in contact with Campos at Lille. Edu is out of his depth (and to an extent Arteta) Arsenal will do ourselves a MASSIVE favour bringing in experience in transfer market. we have been poor selling on players for price. And we continue to make mistakes in market buying players. If we over spend on Buendia, it will be at detriment to other positions needing reinforcement. We are not generating enough income to provide money to reload and we are prioritising some areas we should not this season. If Spread too thin, we will not… Read more »
I agree on campos. We need someone like that, but buendia is a great talent and 35M quid is not over the top. He could easily be worth double that in a year. But tbf, we should have had him a year ago for 20-25M, instead we but all or nothing after aouar and only our inability to stump up the stupid fee saved us from ourselves as aouar continues to look way overrated.
Who knows D. You could easily be making the same statement about Buendia in a year’s time. I feel £40 mil is a bit steep for a Championship player but only Father Time will tell.
I felt that Aouar was overrated and overvalued last year. You were one of the very few people on this site to agree with me.
Santori, you’ve been one of Campos’ biggest proponents for a while😅. Hopefully you get what you wish for. His recruitment record at Lille and Monaco is nothing short of excellent. Though as third-party ownership is “legally” forbidden in England, he might be more reluctant to come as he can’t make as much money off transfer fees as in France. If he joined as a DoF, he’d be the first one to sign-off on selling Saka & ESR for £90 million before either of them turned 23. So far, sports media are reporting that we’d like to hire him as a… Read more »
Well that was a short transfer saga. Congrats to VIlla, I guess, and on to the next one for us!
It’s bullsh*t. As if we’re getting blown out of the water by Villa. It’s absolute madness how far we’ve sunk. £30m is an absolute steal too, even with the add-ons and sell on fee. Edu and co are gonna screw us even more over the next year. I can smell the sh*t excuses already.
If he wasn’t a genuine target, I don’t mind, but if he was, then, yeah, that’s a worry.
I sincerely hope Arteta and Edu are not all smoke and no fire.
That signing was like a punch in my guts. Except there is something we don’t yet know, losing a bid to Villa hurts more than the 6 points they took last season.
It was unheard of that a player chose Villa over Arsenal!
I feel so bad I want to pretty much shut down until the season proper starts.
Arteta and Edu had better know what they are doing: fans will be back next season, and it could get messy for them.
Mate, I’m in agreement that Edu & Arteta seem to lack real substance but ease up with the dramatics a little. Why do Arsenal fans allow themselves to be so easily riled up by tabloid media. It’s just one player at the end of the day. The facts are that Buendia’s transfer to Villa is £35 + £5 million in add-ons. That’s £40 million for a championship player and Villa also added a 10% sell-on fee to Norwich. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with those terms especially considering: (1) Buendia is a RW, not a CAM. (2) There is a better… Read more »
Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come this transfer window
I’ll give you one guess mate….😉
The owners spout bulllshit. How can they say they are going to financially support the manager when they go in at a rubbish opening bid to be popped to the post by villa… villa!! Great effort by all involved.
#KroenkeOut
“Every player that we have been linked with, or we had some communication with, I haven’t seen one that was refusing to come here. Completely the opposite. Everybody is very willing to join our club.”
Mikel Arteta
He’s already come out with some all-time classics. That’s one of them, for sure.
Nothing tops ‘The owners are excited’ though. Pure funny farm toys in the attic stuff.