Norwich City’s sporting director Stuart Webber has revealed that the Canaries’ assist king was under the nose of Leeds United at affiliated club Cultural Leonesa before the Championship leaders pounced.
The 22-year-old signed at Carrow Road from Getafe last summer and has gone on to be a crucial member of the Norwich squad, leading the club’s assist charts with 16 assists across all competitions.
However, it could have been Leeds who had pounced, with Webber revealing that it was Buendia’s performances at Leonesa, a feeder club to the Elland Road outfit, which saw them pounce on a move.
He told the Telegraph: “Buendia is a success story for the whole scouting department, starting with the guys in data who first flagged him up for high statistics in a really underperforming team.
“Kieran Scott [head of recruitment] then went to watch him, came back and said he was unbelievable. I then got involved, watched him and then by using my contacts got into Getafe to make the deal happen at a time when they were struggling for money.
“It was the perfect jigsaw and everything slotted into place, and that very rarely happens. We literally found him from nowhere. The most interesting part of it is that Buendia was on loan at Cultural Leonesa, who are owned by Leeds. Luckily we got in there under Leeds’ noses.”
Opinion
This was quite obviously a gamble which paid off for Norwich but the Leeds fans will no doubt be wondering what the club pay Victor Orta for when they are missing out on players like Buendia. The Whites have not had any of their unproven signings pay off other than Mateusz Klich, with a lot of flops making their way to and from Elland Road over the last two years. The real kick in the teeth is that this was a player, who now seems destined for the Premier League with Norwich, who the club should have had on their radar thanks to their connections at Leonesa. There need to be some serious questions asked after this particular revelation, for at the moment the partnership agreement with the Spanish side seems like a complete waste of time. One club’s loss can be another’s gain and in this situation it was definitely Leeds who missed out.