Buendia was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, around 400 kilometres from the capital Buenos Aires. He took his first steps in football with local club Cadetes de San Martin and was only 12 years old when he left home to join the academy at Real Madrid, where a certain Xabi Alonso was playing in the senior team. His time with Los Blancos was only brief, though, as Buendia soon moved to the outskirts of the city with Getafe.
The right-footer made his debut for the Madrid club’s second team in the third tier at the age of 17 in March 2014. Within a year he’d got his first taste of senior football in the cup before his La Liga debut on 1 February 2015. Getafe were relegated that season, while injuries restricted the midfielder to just 12 appearances in the following 2016/17 campaign in the second division.
In 2017/18, Buendia was sent on loan to second division outfit Cultural Leonesa and went on to score six goals and provide 12 assists in 40 league appearances. Although his team couldn’t avoid relegation, his displays caught the eye and earned him the Player of the Year award in Spain’s second division and the title of Player of the Season by Leonesa fans.
Buendia left Spain in 2018 to begin a new chapter in England. He was Daniel Farke’s first signing as Norwich City boss in the EFL Championship and went on to have a direct hand in 20 goals across 38 league outings as the Canaries topped the table to secure promotion back to the Premier League.
Although the following campaign in the top flight ended in relegation, the Argentine featured in 36 out of 38 games, scoring once and providing six assists. He stayed with Norwich after they went down and once again led them back to the big time as champions, being named Championship Player of the Season after contributing 15 goals and 16 assists in 39 games.
Buendia went on to join Aston Villa for the 2021/22 season – partially under Steven Gerrard – and made 35 Premier League appearances (a direct hand in 10 goals) in his first year. His performances for his club earned a call-up for the national team and a senior debut for Argentina in a 1-0 win over Colombia in World Cup qualifying in February 2022. Buendia holds both Spanish and Argentinian citizenship and had previously represented the former at U19 level in 2014 and the latter with the U20s in 2015.
The midfielder would play every league game in 2022/23, contributing seven goals, but then missed the next year due to a cruciate ligament injury.
The new Leverkusen man has already been in UEFA Champions League action this season, starting four of Villa’s first seven games of the league phase as they compete alongside the Werkself for a place in the last 16.
Buendia will be at the BayArena on Wednesday evening to watch his new team in action for the first time as they conclude the league phase against Sparta Prague.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
Show more
Ticket sales for another Bayer 04 Women's home game have begun. Fans can now purchase tickets for the match against SGS Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Saturday, 22 November. The latest information at a glance.
Show more
It took 120 minutes, but once again Bayer 04 produced a late goal to win their DFB Pokal second-round tie away at Paderborn on Wednesday. “Same as always” was the line in Bild in homage to the 2023/24 double-winning season. With Jeanuel Belocian making his first start in over a year and Ibrahim Maza netting his first Werkself goal to secure a place in the last 16, Jonas Hofmann is eager to “take the positive feeling” into the next round.
Show more
A DFB Pokal thriller that had it all - including a positive outcome from a Bayer 04 perspective. After a goalless and uneventful first half, the second round tie at SC Paderborn 07 really took off: Following a red card for the second division side, Grimaldo scored to give Bayer 04 a 1-0 lead but Paderborn levelled before the end of normal time. The home side then turned the game round at 2-1 in extra time, before Quansah, Maza and Garcia scored for the Werkself to make it 4-2 to seal a place in the Round of 16.
Show more
