Arsenal and Aston Villa are in transfer battle for the signing of Emiliano Buendia from Norwich City and it looks like the Gunners might come a distant second in this race.
The North London side have long been linked with the Norwich City winger but recent reports had suggested that Villa have also opened talks with Emi Buendia in the hopes of signing him before the 2021-22 season kicks off.
Now, according to the Football Insider, Aston Villa have moved ahead of their Premier League rivals and are confident of wrapping up the deal pretty soon.
The report claims: “Aston Villa are confident they have edged ahead of Arsenal in the race to sign Emiliano Buendia after the latest talks, Football Insider understands.
“The Premier League duo are going head to head to prise the right-sided attacker from Norwich City this summer.
“A Villa source has told Football Insider they have made progress over a potential summer deal since the Premier League season ended.
“Reports have stated Norwich City will not sell Buendia for less than their £40million asking price. But the source explained that the up-front price for the Argentine will be considerably less than that sum.”
Is Emiliano Buendia likely to snub a move to Arsenal & join Aston Villa?
Arsenal are without a doubt the bigger side in the Premier League but we will not be totally surprised if Emiliano Buendia snubs a move to the Emirates and joined Villa Park instead.
The Gunners are in a mess right now and they will also not be playing in Europe next season. So it makes pretty great sense to join a club like Aston Villa next season, a place where he can sharpen his talents even more.
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Also, at Arsenal, he will not be a guaranteed starter since Mikel Arteta already has players like Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka at his disposal. And after scoring 15 and assisting 17 goals in the Championship this season, the last thing the 24-year-old will want is to warm the benches next campaign.
Villa have still not wrapped up the transfer so Arsenal could very well stage a coup in the final moments but as things stand, the Villa Park outfit are in a much better position to sign Emiliano Buendia.
The Arsenal manager will need to convince the player personally that he will get guaranteed starts next season plus the club will definitely going head back into Europe next season itself. Only then will they have any chance of signing the Norwich City winger.
