Leeds United were arguably short of quality in the final third of the pitch this season, which as we all know, cost them dearly towards the end of the campaign.
Marcelo Bielsa had looked to address a number of the concerns when he first arrived at the club in the summer, however, the likes of Lewis Baker and Izzy Brown hardly paid off, whilst Samu Saiz was a shadow of his former self and decided to pack his bags and head home in December.
However, things could have been extremely different for the Whites had they managed to pick up one of the men they were thought to have targeted in the summer as he went on to prove how big of a star he could be in the Championship and did what Leeds had set out to do – win promotion to the Premier League as champions!
The one that got away – Emiliano Buendia and Leeds
According to The Pink Un, Leeds were thought to have been interested in signing Emiliano Buendia last summer, although he evidently secured a move to Norwich City instead.
In fact, according to Football Insider, senior officials at the club were angry that the club failed to spot the potential Buendia had and that they did not use their relationship with Cultural Leonesa to sign him after he excelled during a loan spell with them in his Getafe days.
The 22-year-old was hugely influential for the Canaries this season, having scored eight goals and has provided his team-mates with 12 assists in his 38 appearances as they went on to win the title. Norwich had brought him to the Championship in the summer for a fee of around £1.5million from Getafe – a complete steal!
And, you would have to imagine those figures would have had every chance of being replicated (or even bettered) under Bielsa at Elland Road.
Buendia would have certainly have got the game-time he has had at Carrow Road and he would have made Saiz’s decision to leave in the winter even less of a concern as he could have been doing the business as a playmaker that the Whites so dearly missed.
Leeds will surely be ruing their missed opportunity of signing a player who turned out to be a quality midfielder for a promotion-chasing side and can only be wondering what could have been if the Argentine had been in the white jersey at Elland Road.
If they had Buendia and Pablo Hernandez or Mateusz Klich working in tandem and pulling the strings in midfield, there would have been every chance that the club would have been facing the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool when the season returns.
Leeds fans, how disappointed are you that the club missed out on Buendia last summer? Let us know below!
