Leeds United must fend off Turkish talk to win Aston Villa, Emi Buendia race | OneFootball

Leeds United simply must beat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Beskitas to the signing of Aston Villa playmaker Emi Buendia this month

Leeds United's ambitious transfer interest in Aston Villa playmaker Emi Buendia is well-documented, and he could just spearhead their Championship title bid in the remainder of the campaign if Daniel Farke can reunite with the Argentine.

The Whites are currently leading the race for the league title with a slender one-point advantage over second-place Sheffield United - who were struck with a two-point deduction before a ball was kicked this term - ahead of next Monday's crunch trip to another sure-fire automatic promotion rival in Scott Parker's Burnley.

Leeds were always going to be competitive in their second season back in the Championship after falling agonisingly short to Southampton in last term's play-off final.

But while Farke was able to add to his squad with a number of exciting additions, a second successive summer squad exodus took place as the likes of Georginio Rutter, Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray and Glen Kamara were all prized away by top-flight clubs.

West Ham United winger Summerville may have been the division's best player last season, though it could well be argued Rutter has proved the most difficult player to replace, with Leeds having failed to recruit a like-for-like replacement in attacking midfield after the Frenchman's release clause was activated by Brighton and Hove Albion last summer.

They did, however, plot a series of ambitious moves, with James McAtee and Fabio Carvalho both later revealed as targets Angus Kinnear.

The controversial Whites chief executive also confirmed an interest in Buendia, which Leeds are seemingly maintaining this month ahead of a likely exit from Villa Park.

Leeds United's transfer interest in Aston Villa's Emi Buendia

Leeds had looked to offset Rutter's departure by enquiring about a deal for Buendia, who, at the time, had recently returned to full fitness after missing the entirety of the 2023/24 campaign sidelined with an ACL injury.

However, Villa were reluctant to sanction a departure while Buendia, who has previously starred at Championship level under Farke with Norwich City, is said to have held his own reservations about dropping back down to English football's second-tier.

Kinnear is quoted as saying: "Buendia was on our list, and very clearly [the feedback] from Aston Villa [was that he] wasn’t going to be released, and the player didn’t want to come back down. He felt he’d served his time at Championship level."

That said, it does not feel as though any deal is completely dead in the water just yet.

As per reports, Leeds are among the clubs believed to be interested in the ex-Canaries star if Villa are offer to him out, and he has now been given the option to depart the Second City in search of regular game time after failing to get a look in under Unai Emery this term.

The 28-year-old has played just 71 minutes of Premier League football across eleven matches, none of which have been starts or have yielded a single goal or assists.

He did, however, play all but four minutes of Villa's 1-0 UEFA Champions League defeat at Monaco on Tuesday evening, but it still feels likely he will leave before the transfer window concludes at the start of next month amid fresh interest from Besiktas, who are now under the management of former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and have reportedly placed Buendia's name on a punchy transfer wishlist which also includes the likes of Paul Pogba, Casemiro, Jorginho and Anthony Martial.

Speaking in the wake of the Monaco defeat, Emery told the press: "Buendia played a fantastic match, but we needed something more on the right side and a little bit more on the left side.

"Of course, I am very happy with a lot of players.

"Today, especially with Emi Buendia, because he has the option to leave but today we needed him and he played fantastic with his qualities, fantastic mentality and fantastic with his commitment with the squad."

It's said there was a concern about whether Villa would allow the talented playmaker to depart, but Emery's comments are telling and imply the decision to start Buendia was more an anomaly as opposed to the start of a potential resurgence to his Villa career.

Leeds may now like to think that just leaves the door open ajar for them to fight for a move once again, and that's something they simply must be doing in what remains of the winter window.

Leeds United must beat Besiktas to Aston Villa's Emi Buendia following Unai Emery revelation

It's easy to see why Leeds' admiration of Buendia is unwavering. Put simply, he would represent a sheer cheat code in the Championship, as evidenced by his two glittering, title-winning campaigns at this level with Norwich.

During both of those, of course, Buendia was under the management of Farke, who knew exactly how to optimise his talents and will now be hoping that fruitful working relationship between the two could aid the club's pursuit of his services.

Buendia scored eight goals and made 17 assists across all competitions during his first season with the Canaries before impressing in spite of their subsequent relegation from the Premier League with eight goal involvements.

It was the 2020/21 season, mind you, where Buendia established himself as an otherworldly talent as far as the second-tier goes, returning a quite simply ridiculous outlay of 15 goals and a further 16 assists from just 39 matches.

In both of those seasons, Buendia proved himself to be unplayable for Championship defenders and would doubtless wreak havoc in a ball-dominant, front-footed Leeds side which also features a number 10 and is led by the manager whom he has played the best football of his career under.

That attacking midfield position is one of relative concern for Leeds, with Brendan Aaronson coming back in from the cold to enjoy something of a mini-resurgence at Elland Road this term.

The divisive USA international has scored seven Championship goals and counting and deserves credit for breathing fresh life into his Whites career when a permanent exit looked inevitable following a mixed loan spell with Union Berlin last time out, but admittedly, he's not quite the natural, innate inventive-minded talent both Rutter and Buendia are, and that Leeds could do with in order to potentially run away with the league title.

Convincing Buendia to move to West Yorkshire may be the stumbling block, as he is still far, far too good to be playing Championship football at what is a prime age in his career.

But he needs to restart his career somewhere else and doing so under Farke could be the best option, while Leeds should really be able to promise Premier League football come August - especially with an X-Factor player like the Argentine.