'Option to leave' - Aston Villa boss doubles down on stance regarding Leeds United summer target

Buendia joined the Midlands club in 2021, moving from Norwich City for a reported £33m. He had flourished at Carrow Road under the tutelage of Daniel Farke, now in charge of Leeds.

The connection between the two fuelled talk of a reunion in the summer window and Leeds’ chief executive officer Angus Kinnear confirmed there had been interest from Elland Road.

He said: “Buendia was on our list and very clearly from Aston Villa, wasn’t going to be released, and the player didn’t want to come back down to Championship level, he felt he’d served his time at Championship level.”

However, Buendia’s lack of starts at Villa Park has caused talk of a potential move to resurface.

Leeds have deployed Brenden Aaronson in the ‘number 10’ role for the bulk of the current campaign but there have been calls for another option to be recruited.

Buendia started in Villa’s Champions League defeat to Monaco last night (January 21), completing 86 minutes.

However, in his post-match press conference, Emery insisted the 28-year-old could still seek pastures new.

He said: "He has the option to leave but today we needed him. He played fantastic with his quality, his mentality and commitment to the squad."

Emery had previously floated the possibility of sanctioning an exit for the Argentine. Last week, he said: "Always, we are trying to improve the team. The players who are here with us, always we are supporting them. He had last year a long injury but he started this year progressively getting better.

"He didn’t 100 per cent in the season until now. But now he is playing more minutes and helping the team. But maybe he can have the possibility to leave.

"For him, it could be something where he can play more, get more minutes, get confidence again and being comfortable playing again in the starting XI. Of course, now he is helping us and I am happy with his attitude."