Unai Emery has the perfect opportunity to end Aston Villa nightmare
If Emiliano Buendia is named in the Aston Villa starting XI at Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, it'll be the first time since a win over Tottenham Hotspur, in May 2023, that the diminutive Argentine will have begun a first-team game - that'll be 501 days on.
Villa have been on a rollercoaster of an adventure around Europe since Buendia helped Unai Emery and his teammates over the line in their bid to qualify for the Conference League that same month, but he wasn't along for the ride, instead watching matches and training from the sidelines after suffering a knee injury in training which ended his campaign before it had even commenced.
Buendia, and Tyrone Mings, didn't enjoy the fruits of their efforts, but thankfully their colleagues in their absence have ensured that European football - and a greater quality of opponent, too - remains on the Villa Park menu as they return; Buendia is ahead of Mings in that sense, and he has already been getting minutes having joined Villa on their pre-season tour of the US this summer.
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Villa have gone about things correctly with handling Buendia after such a lengthy lay-off and upon recovering from such a serious set-back, but that has meant patience for the playmaker who has been itching to get back out and play routinely once again. Emery is fully expected to make changes at Wycombe and Buendia is highly likely to be in line to start.
He's enjoyed a sample of a senior environment; aside from his various cameo appearances from the bench, including one which was met with a raucous reception as he entered the Villa Park pitch during the recent success over Everton, Buendia was handed the captain's armband at Fleetwood in the EFL Trophy, where he bagged twice in a 77-minute appearance. That came after a patient start in which he was an unused sub early on.
To be playing with his teammates in a first-team role, though, cannot be directly replicated, even if he did have Ross Barkley and Jacob Ramsey with him on that evening at Highbury. Buendia has returned to action to find more competition, and with those who were his existing teammates having undeniably progressed, too; Leon Bailey enjoyed a superb season last year, while Jhon Duran is another attack minded player in rich form.
Morgan Rogers has made a name for himself and, despite moving on Moussa Diaby in the summer, Buendia is having to bide his time as he waits a for the Premier League call he longs for - inclusion from the off, which is perhaps on the horizon in the coming weeks as Emery looks to cope with Villa's demanding schedule at home and abroad.
It'll be a low key return to the starting XI if he is indeed included by Emery at Adams Park on Tuesday night, but it'd also mark the end of a nightmarishly long wait for Buendia who is hunting an opportunity to secure more game time and to remind his teammates, who he is in competition with, that he remains very much a live selection option to the boss.