Aston Villa have rejected an initial loan with an option to buy from German side Stuttgart for Emiliano Buendia. The 28-year-old's future is still to be decided with Buendia himself keen on staying, but Villa are weighing up whether a departure will be beneficial. Buendia had an impressive pre-season, scoring two goals and registering an assist, leading to Unai Emery wanting to keep him as a squad player.
However, due to Villa's financial constraints by UEFA's rules, the departure of Buendia may allow some room for the Villans to move for key targets such as Marco Asensio and Nicolas Jackson. Emery wants to strengthen Villa's attacking ranks after losing Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle and Leon Bailey to Roma. The current squad certainly lacks depth in the forward positions, so new signings are needed.
#AVFC have rejected an initial loan with option offer from Stuttgart for Emiliano Buendia. But 28yo’s future uncertain with player and club weighing up a departure. Buendia has been keen to stay but he and Villa assessing situation. Story @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/xz5Aak861R
— Jacob Tanswell (@J_Tanswell) August 26, 2025
Villa Career
Buendia joined Villa for £30 million from Norwich in 2021. He was part of the trio alongside Danny Ings and Leon Bailey to replace Jack Grealish in his £100 million move to Manchester City. In his first two seasons he was a regular starter making 78 appearances in all competitions, scoring nine goals and nine assists. In the build up to the 23/24 campaign, the Argentinian suffered an ACL injury which ruled him out for the whole season.
Once he returned at the start of last season, Buendia had lost his place in the starting XI to Morgan Rogers. Emery used him sparingly, mainly as a substitute, where he made 19 appearances before joining Bayer Leverkusen on loan in January. Buendia appeared 14 times for the league runners-up, starting only four matches and scoring two goals. Leverkusen had a £17 million buy option, but decided against making the move.
Now Buendia faces a speculative last few days of the transfer window. His contract runs until 2027, so Villa may decide to move him on whilst he still has some value. Should Villa put him "up for sale" then Stuttgart could return with a more reasonable offer.
