Emi Buendia made his third start of the season in Aston Villa's Champions League defeat to Monaco on Tuesday night, but he could still leave the club by the end of the winter window.

The 28-year-old has struggled for game time this season and was therefore a surprise inclusion in the starting XI to face Monaco. The Ligue 1 side dented Villa's hopes of finishing in the top eight of the league phase table as Wilfried Singo scored the only goal of the game in the eighth minute.

Buendia was arguably Villa's best player on the night and he made a big chance for Ollie Watkins just before half-time, but the forward's effort was saved by Radoslaw Majecki. After full-time at the Stade Louis II, Unai Emery claimed some of his players weren't following his plan, but did praise Buendia in his post-match press conference.

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"Of course, I am very happy with a lot of players," Emery said. "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 remains to be seen if Buendia will leave Villa in this window because while the Argentine is frustrated about his lack of minutes, the playmaker is also determined to fight for his place. That much was clear from his impressive showing in Monaco earlier this week.

But Villa are also aware that Buendia needs to be playing games because if he is sold in the summer, his price would possibly be higher after a successful loan spell elsewhere. Buendia's contract is up in 2026, meaning he will enter the final 12 months of his deal this summer.

Tribuna Deportiva claim that Valencia were interested in signing Buendia, but the player rejected the possibility. Meanwhile, reports in Argentina claim that Buendia is not interested in returning to his homeland just yet despite interest from his boyhood club River Plate.

Diario AS added that Buendia wants to remain in Europe if he is to leave in the winter window. Last summer, Leeds United expressed an interest in taking him on loan, but Villa were not willing to let him leave at that stage and neither was the player interested in dropping down to the Championship.

Despite his bad knee injury before the start of last season, Buendia is still capable of playing Premier League football or in a top-flight divison in Europe.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke worked with Buendia at Norwich, before the Canaries accepted a big-money bid from Villa in the summer of 2021.

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