Norwich attacker Emiliano Buendia “should have been” a Leeds United player, according to Sun journalist Alan Nixon.
The reporter suggested via his personal Twitter account on Sunday that the Whites had the chance to sign Buendia, 22, before he joined the Canaries from Getafe last summer.
Thought Norwich had remarkable guts when under fire. Ironic lad Buendia should have been a Leeds player. He loved it. https://t.co/aJUHuDGWPH
— Alan Nixon (@reluctantnicko) February 3, 2019
Buendia was sent to your sister club in Spain with a view to being brought over by Leeds a year later. Fizzled out … https://t.co/3Nb1Bs6alo
— Alan Nixon (@reluctantnicko) February 3, 2019
Nixon reported in September 2017 that Leeds were lining up a move for the Argentine attacker while he was on loan at Spanish club Cultural Leonesa, who have ties to the Yorkshire giants.
It is now understood that he was at Leonesa with the view to heading to Elland Road, but a move failed to materialise.
OPINION
Victor Orta cannot be letting players like this slip through his net. The Spanish director of football has done a very good job at Elland Road so far, but everyone knows that he is prone to the odd clanger. Let’s hope that Buendia doesn’t really make the Whites pay the ultimate price in the hunt for promotion, because he has already done a lot of damage. Leeds might have opted against signing the 22-year-old after his spell at Cultural Leonesa due to the way that Ouasim Bouy and Yosuke Ideguchi were used on loan at the Spanish club last season. Leeds loaned the duo out to Spain, but neither of them got much game-time and fans were very upset with the way that Orta used the link between the two clubs. Buendia’s no-show at Elland Road could be down to that. It could also be down to the fact that Marcelo Bielsa wasn’t hired until late in the summer and that it was signing that Paul Heckingbottom or Thomas Christiansen might have wanted. Leeds’ link to Cultural Leonesa has definitely been an odd one.