Aston Villa has completed the signature of Emi Buendia from Norwich City in a deal worth up to £38 million. The initial fee is believed to be around £33 million with another £5 million in add-ons, which makes the deal both a club-record signing for Villa as well as a club-record sale for Norwich.
Norwich, who were promoted to the Premier League last season, have also inserted a 10 percent sell-on clause in the deal. The Argentine playmaker was one of the best players for Norwich City in the last few seasons. Aston Villa coach Dean Smith elated with the completion of the signing.
“He is equally capable as a wide attacker or as a number 10 and is a great addition to our attacking options. We are delighted to have made such an exciting signing so early in the summer and look forward to Emi joining up with us for a full pre-season.”
This could be a big blow to Arsenal’s transfer strategy as they had been working on a deal to sign Buendia for a long time but eventually lost the transfer battle to Aston Villa. As per reports in England, Arsenal’s initial offer was £30 million pounds. The North London club couldn’t come up with a better structure of payment than Aston Villa.
Buendia enjoyed another successful campaign as Norwich City claimed the Championship title. He scored 15 goals and registered 16 assists — creating more chances than any other player in the division. In total, he has scored 24 goals and made 42 assists since signing for the club in 2018. Norwich is poised to make a significant profit on a player they signed for just over £1 million from Getafe.
Norwich will feel that they have an enhanced transfer budget to prepare for their Premier League return in 2021-22. However, they will have to take on the top flight without last season’s EFL Championship player of the season and one of the most pivotal figures since the 24-year-old’s arrival from Getafe in the summer of 2018.