Why Buendia Deserves Better Than Norwich
With Norwich sat rock-bottom in the Premier League at the moment, it looks unlikely that they’ll be able to escape the clutches of relegation this season. And with their probable exit from the Premier League, they’ll be taking a number of incredibly talented players down with them.
In truth, many of these players are well above the level of the Championship. The likes of Godfrey, Aarons, Lewis and Cantwell could comfortably fit into many of the mid-table Premier League sides. And of these Norwich players, none is more deservant of a Premier League place than Emiliano Buendia.
The Argentine has had a superb first season in the English top flight, and has furthered the excellence that he displayed in the Championship. With just 9 matches left in the Premier League this season, it’s quite possible that Buendia will be looking for a new challenge shortly, whether that be in the Premier League or abroad.
First off, let’s look into how he performed in the Championship. After joining Norwich from Getafe in 2018, Buendia spent a single season in the Championship before helping his side gain promotion.
During this campaign, he scored 8 goals and assisted a further 12 in 35 starts. This adds up to a direct goal contribution every 143 minutes, which is incredibly impressive for a midfield player. His 12 assists ranked 2nd in the division last season, and was only bettered by Brentford’s Said Benrahma. He also ranked 2nd for key passes per match, with 2.4.
In a season in which Norwich won 94 points to secure automatic promotion, Buendia was the outstanding player in the side. His creative influence from an attacking midfield area allowed Farke’s possession-based system to thrive. Only Teemu Pukki contributed to more goals than Buendia in what was a stunning attacking season for the Canaries. But while Pukki hasn’t exactly kept up his fantastic performances, Buendia continues to impress when playing against a higher standard of player.
Although Norwich have clearly been struggling in the Premier League this campaign, Buendia has actually improved in a number of areas. In what is a much more difficult league, Norwich are relying on their star man more than ever.
Whenever Buendia is on the field, Norwich look to play through him. While he technically plays as a right-midfielder in Farke’s 4-2-3-1, he comes inside to collect the ball. His heat maps and touch maps show just how often he roams from his position. This allows him to become more involved in general buildup play, and play a key role in attacking moves.
While he did this to a certain extent in the Championship, it has become more apparent this season. When Farke’s men have struggled to unlock higher quality defences, it’s Buendia who they’ve turned to. While Buendia’s goal contribution numbers have gone down this year, assisting 7 and scoring none, his underlying stats show the progress that he’s made.
(Buendia’s touch map from Norwich’s last Premier League game against Sheffield United)
His creative numbers have shot through the roof, despite playing in what should be much more challenging circumstances. His key passes have gone up from 2.9 to 3.3 per 90 this campaign. To put this into context, this ranks 2nd in the league for players with more than 10 Premier League appearances. The only player laying on more chances per 90 is unsurprisingly Kevin De Bruyne.
Buendia also ranks 26th in the league for passes into the final third per 90, and 8th for passes into the penalty area per 90 (players with over 500 league minutes). This comes from within a side who keep just over 50% possession per match. It’s also quite impressive considering that he plays in more of a creative role rather than a progressive one. Many of the players ahead of him in these metrics are central midfielders or full-backs, who are able to progress the ball from deeper positions.
The fact that Buendia is doing this from a more advanced role shows his superb abilities to progress the ball as well as create chances. And again, these numbers highlight his increased involvement in this Norwich side, and how that’s further demonstrated his quality.
He has also progressed the ball extraordinarily this season through his dribbling. Incredibly, he ranks 4th for dribbles per match in the Premier League on 3.3. Only Adama Traore, Wilfried Zaha and Allan Saint-Maximin top him in this metric.
All of these players are more typical wingers, who base their game around dribbling past their opponents. Buendia, however, plays in a far different role. He plays in a much more central area than all of these other players, and therefore plays in a much more congested area of the pitch. This means that he is often surrounded by three or four players, rather than being able to take an opponent one-on-one.
Despite this, his dribbling numbers remain incredible. Buendia’s dribbling success rate of 71% is also better than both Saint-Maximin and Zaha, and is only bettered by Adama Traore out of the aforementioned players.
From an attacking position, Buendia brings the dribbling ability of a skilled winger and the passing ability of an attacking midfielder. What he is doing is unrivalled in the Premier League. In fact, his combined dribbles and key passes per match of 5.9 is only bettered by Adama Traore in the Premier League. But while Buendia’s total is split rather evenly, Traore is overwhelmingly focused on dribbling.
This shows that Buendia is one of the most versatile attackers in the division. His ability to both create chances and progress the ball leaves you wondering why he’s playing for a team in the relegation zone. With that in mind, let’s take a look at where he should go next season.
In the Premier League, there are certainly a number of teams who could use a player of his quality. Although he is certainly ready for a move to a top 6 club, it seems more likely that he’ll find himself in a mid-table side. While this is a natural stepping stone, it also allows him to play in a side in which he’s the center of attention. At Norwich, he has greatly benefited from being the star man.
One club that immediately springs to mind is Everton. The Toffees are underperforming this season, and currently sit in 12th place. However, under new boss Carlo Ancelotti they seem to be heading in the right direction as a club. At 23, Buendia would be a great signing for them, especially in their current system.
Under Ancelotti, Everton have primarily been operating with a 4-4-2. However, in game this formation often shifts to a 5-3-2, with the left midfielder coming inside to form a midfield three, and the right midfielder dropping into a back five.
Buendia would fit this left midfield role perfectly. While the right midfielder is forced to drop back into defence, the left midfielder has more freedom. Also, when going forwards, the left midfielder is forced to cut inside, in order to give Luca Digne space on the overlap.
On this left side, Ancelotti has primarily operated with Sigurdsson, Iwobi and Bernard. All three of these players are right footed, and prefer to cut inside an open up the field. Also, each of these three players ranks within the top 5 at Everton for key passes per match, indicating that they play in a primarily creative role.
However, Ancelotti doesn’t seem to prefer any of them, and has chopped and changed this selection since his arrival. While most of the team has been relatively constant, there has been a lack of stability on the left flank.
While Gylfi Sigurdsson is undoubtedly the best creator out of these players, he is also the oldest among them. At 30 years old, you’d expect his time as a regular starter to be nearing it’s end. While he remains a solid creative player, his shot numbers and dribble numbers have both seen a decline from last year.
And in Ancelotti’s 4-4-2, he doesn’t really have a role that suits him. His defensive output isn’t strong enough for him to be considered as a central midfield player, but he has lost the mobility that would allow him to perform well on the wing. His best role is undoubtedly as an attacking midfielder, where his primary goal is to create chances, as well as take shots. Both Bernard and Iwobi are inferior from a creative perspective, however; they fit the role better.
Buendia is the perfect solution to this. His creative numbers actually far exceed Sigurdsson’s. In the Premier League this season, Sigurdsson has averaged 2.1 key passes per 90, while Buendia has averaged 3.3. Everton’s most effective creative player, Luca Digne, averages just 2.3 key passes per 90.
Buendia is also a more effective progressor of the ball, as well as a more solid defensive player. I’ve already mentioned Buendia’s obscene dribbling numbers which Sigurdsson doesn’t even come close to. Buendia is also far superior in this regard to both Bernard and Iwobi, who each average just 1.2 dribbles per match.
Defensively, Buendia is also quite impressive. His 3.1 tackles and interceptions per match is an improvement on Sigurdsson’s 2.6. With this number, he would also rank 4th in the Everton squad. In Ancelotti’s rather pragmatic 4-4-2, it’s crucial that his players are defensively astute. Under Ancelotti, Everton have rarely kept high volumes of possession; therefore, the wingers are often forced into defensive action.
This brings us nicely into our next option: Atletico Madrid. If Buendia were to look further afield, the Spanish capital could be the perfect destination. Atleti have been having a relatively poor season by their standards, as at the time of writing they sit in 6th. And at the moment, Buendia looks as if he could slot perfectly into Simeone’s system.
Atleti are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements, as they currently rank 12th for goals scored in La Liga. With just 31 goals in 27 games, they are averaging their worst goals per game ratio since 2004/05 when they finished 12th in the league. This means, obviously, that this is Simeone’s worst year as the Atleti manager from an attacking standpoint .
This poor attacking record has come as a result of both sub-par finishing and a lack of chance creation. They are massively underperforming on their expected goals. This metric estimates that they should have scored 41 goals, compared to the 31 that they have actually scored. By comparison, the 10 goals that they have missed out on makes them the biggest underperformers in the league. This would indicate poor finishing which has certainly been part of the problem.
With Griezmann leaving for Barcelona, they have lacked a clinical finisher in the squad. Morata ranks within the top 3 in La Liga for expected goals, but ranks 17th for actual goals scored. The likes of Joao Felix, Angel Correa and Diego Costa have all also underperformed on their expected goals.
However, Atleti have also lacked an outstanding creative player. In the 2018/19 campaign, Griezmann was the top creator in the squad, racking up 8.84 expected assists and laying 8 actual assists (both top of the squad). Since his departure, no player has stepped up to replace this output. Koke now leads the squad for expected assists, averaging 0.23 per match, up from his 0.17 from last season.
Buendia, however, is averaging 0.30 expected assists per 90 in the Premier League this campaign. This exceeds Koke’s average from this season, as well as Griezmann’s from the season before. Although he would be playing in a far more limiting system, this creative output would be a massive boost to the Atleti squad.
Like Everton, Atleti also operate with a rather pragmatic 4-4-2, in which Buendia could play on either the left or the right. Although his role at Norwich is one with far more freedom, it’s possible that Simeone would grant him more flexibility. We’ve seen with players like Lemar and Felix over the last couple seasons, that Simeone isn’t averse to using dynamic players in more progressive roles.
While these players haven’t necessarily worked well in Atleti’s system, you can see Buendia being more comfortable in the setup. While both Lemar and Felix are capable of flashes of brilliance, they have never put up the type of numbers that Buendia is this season. Also, both of these players have put up decent dribbling numbers this campaign, but have lacked a strong creative presence. Buendia has proven his ability to both create chances and progress the ball this campaign, and therefore looks like the perfect player to come into this role.
Something else that stands out is Buendia’s ability to play centrally. While both Lemar and Felix prefer to play on the wings, or in Felix’s case as a striker occasionally, Buendia is comfortable playing in a central midfield role. Over the years, this is something that Simeone has preferred time and time again.
This can be seen with Koke, Saul Niguez and Marcos Llorente in the Atleti squad this season. All of these players are natural central midfielders, but have played frequently on the wing. Simeone’s incredibly compact defensive shape requires wide players who are willing to come centrally to support the central midfielders.
As mentioned earlier, Buendia already plays in quite a central role at Norwich. Therefore, his adjustment to Simeone’s system might be more successful than it has been for the likes of Lemar and Felix.
Buendia is also more defensively assured than these players. His 3.8 tackles and interceptions per 90 is far more defensive output than either Felix or Lemar this season. This campaign, Lemar has averaged just 1.7 tackles and interceptions per 90, while Felix has averaged a meager 0.8.
While Buendia would be brought in to play a similar role as these two, he clearly is more suited to the system, and the role within it. He is a more consistent attacking player, but he also provides the defensive security that is so necessary for a player under Simeone. He is also more capable of playing in a more central midfield role, which neither Lemar nor Felix are. With Atletico’s attack performing at an all time low, Buendia could just be the player to come in and make an immediate impact, without proving detrimental to the defensive structure that Simeone has worked so hard to perfect.
Although Norwich are likely going to be relegated this season, Buendia certainly deserves his spot at the top of the beautiful game.
His versatile skill set would make him a useful player for most teams in the Premier League, and in Europe as a whole. A move looks imminent for the Argentine, but whether that be in England or abroad we’ll have to wait and see.
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