Aston Villa have four games left to save their season. It has been a frustrating few weeks after they were knocked out of the FA Cup and the Champions League, leaving themselves without a chance to win a trophy.
The Villans, however, can still clinch a successful campaign by finishing in the top five in the Premier League to secure a place in the Champions League for the 2025/26 campaign.
Unai Emery’s side, who were narrowly beaten by PSG in the quarter-finals of the competitions this term, are looking to climb at least two places in the Premier League table to land a spot in Europe’s premier cup competition.
The Villans are currently seventh in the top-flight, three points behind Chelsea in fifth spot, and this means that there is still plenty to play for heading into the final four games of the campaign.
David Ornstein reported earlier this week that Marcus Rashford, however, is unlikely to play any part in those four matches after sustaining a hamstring injury that looks set to end his season.
One of the club’s other loan stars, Marco Asensio, could step up to be a difference-maker in the remaining games to make up for the English star’s absence.
Why Marco Asensio's Aston Villa move has been a big success
The Villans swooped to sign the Spain international from PSG in the January transfer window on loan until the end of the season, without an option to make the deal permanent.
Asensio was, essentially, brought in to provide the team with an instant boost, and that is exactly what the 29-year-old dynamo has done over the past three months or so.
The Spanish star has scored eight goals and provided one assist in all competitions for Villa to date, including two goals in one game against Club Brugge in the Champions League.
These statistics show that Asensio has succeeded in making an instant impact at Villa Park with his contributions at the top end of the pitch, which has also been the case in the Premier League specifically.
Appearances (starts)
9 (5)
xG
4.18
Goals
3
Key passes per game
1.3
Assists
1
As you can see in the table above, the PSG loanee has been directly involved in four goals in five starts in the top-flight, despite missing two penalties in one match against Southampton earlier this month.
The loan move has, therefore, been a big success so far because he has made the desired impact in the final third since joining on a temporary basis from the French giants.
It was reported by TEAMtalk in March that Villa have opened talks over a possible deal to sign the winger on a permanent basis for a fee of £18m in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Instead of splashing £18m on the 29-year-old attacker, however, Emery could find a perfect replacement for Asensio by bringing Emiliano Buendia back into the first-team fold, after his loan at Bayer Leverkusen expires.
The former Norwich City winger could return to take the Spanish gem’s place in the squad next season, saving the club £18m in the process.
Why Emi Buendia could be Marco Asensio's replacement
It is fair to say that Buendia has not lived up to the hype that came alongside his, at the time, club-record £33m move from the Canaries in the summer of 2021.
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The Argentina international produced nine goals and nine assists in 78 appearances in all competitions in his first two seasons at Villa Park, which is a decent, but unspectacular, return, for an attacking midfielder.
The diminutive talent arrived at the club off the back of a haul of 15 goals and 16 assists in the Championship for Norwich in the 2020/21 campaign, but failed to immediately translate that kind of form over to the top-flight with Villa.
Unfortunately, Buendia then suffered an ACL injury ahead of the 2023/24 campaign and missed a whopping 56 competitive matches, and 328 days of action, before his return in the summer of 2024.
This disrupted his development at Villa and caused him to fall down the pecking order by the time he returned to the team at the start of this season.
Buendia played just 124 minutes of football across 12 substitute appearances in the Premier League during the first half of the current campaign, along with one goal – against Wycombe Wanderers – in two starts in the League Cup.
His lack of minutes on the pitch during the first half of the season led to him being sent out on loan to Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen until the end of the campaign.
The 28-year-old star, who was once described as a “little warrior” by Steven Gerrard, has scored two goals and created two ‘big chances’ in nine appearances and two starts in the Bundesliga to date, most recently impressing against Augsburg last weekend.
Minutes
64
xG
0.09
Goals
1
Key passes
1
Dribbles completed
1/1
Ground duels won
4/6
Aerial duels won
2/2
As you can see in the table above, Buendia put in a fantastic all-round display for Leverkusen on the wing, winning his duels, creating a chance, and scoring a goal from a low xG chance.
It further illustrates how good the Argentine star, who once provided an unbelievable assist for Norwich in the clip above, can be on his day at the top level.
Buendia is yet to justify his £33m price tag at Aston Villa but his form since joining Leverkusen and his incredible performances for the Canaries in the past suggest that is worth giving him one more chance to impress in pre-season to save his Villa career.
The right-footed wizard has the potential to come back as the perfect replacement for Asensio as an attacking midfielder who can provide goals and assists, if he can finally hit his stride in the Midlands, and that means that he could save the club £18m by preventing them from needing to sign the Spaniard permanently.
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It is now down to Emery to provide the former Norwich maestro with a chance, in pre-season, to show that his loan spell with Leverkusen has helped him to rediscover his best form.
