Leeds United chief reveals Aston Villa transfer approach

Leeds United CEO Angus Kinnear has revealed the Championship club were rebuffed in their attempt to land Emi Buendia in the summer.

Aston Villa were not willing to let Buendia leave the club and neither was the 27-year-old interested in dropping down to the Championship. Leeds boss Daniel Farke worked with Buendia at Norwich, before the Canaries accepted a big-money bid from Villa in the summer of 2021.

Buendia didn't feature for Villa last season because he suffered an ACL injury on the eve of the new Premier League campaign. He trained throughout pre-season and featured in most of Villa's summer friendlies, but is yet to make a league appearance under Unai Emery so far this term.

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The Argentine captained the Villa side which beat Fleetwood Town in the EFL Trophy earlier this month and he also scored two goals. He could play at Villa Park against Everton on Saturday 475 days after his last appearance at home, which came on the final day of the 2023/23 season.

Buendia was of interest to Leeds after losing Crysencio Summerville to West Ham, while Brighton activated Georginio Rutter's £40m release clause at the end of August.

Speaking on the Square Ball podcast, Kinnear said: "One of the things which has been a theme across the summer is getting to players who really wanted to play for Leeds United. That’s really hard because it surprised me how much players want to play in the Premier League versus the Championship.

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