| Buendia won 82 tackles during his first campaign in the Premier League with Norwich City and he was the only player that season to pass 60 for tackles won, successful dribbles (102) and chances created (83).
But last season, for whatever reason, be it the arrival of Philippe Coutinho, fitness or a lack of consistency in manager or system, Buendia wasn't afforded the opportunity to make his first campaign at Villa a total success. Following a 1-0 defeat to Watford at Villa Park, Buendia was benched for seven of the next eight games, while he only started four of the club's final 13 Premier League fixtures of the season.
Compare that to Coutinho, who was only rested for two games in that time - both against Burnley - Buendia would have felt aggrieved that his more effective output, when judged against the Brazilian, was being overlooked. Perhaps Gerrard was making a point to Villa's owners that Coutinho was a very important member of his squad and the option to sign him permanently must be taken up, or is there a deeper issue?
When asked about the South American playmakers and specifically if they could play in the same team, Gerrard gave a worrying response.
He said: "At certain times, against certain opponents, I have seen it work before. But not in every game, I think they are quite similar, but what you have got is two creative players who are capable of opening the door.
"Where Emi is at, obviously he is a lot younger, he needs to continue to work on certain parts of his game, Phil as well. But there is a big onus on them in terms of creativity and goals because they play in important positions in this team." |
| Every team which competes for European football will have a deep squad capable of rotating heavily without those alterations negatively affecting team performance. Take Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United - who finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively - the odds are they'll make two or three changes every week to give players opportunities to get back into form or simply due to a midweek game on the continent.
Gerard's squad must get used to rotation, of course. But it must be justified. There's no way Buendia was sitting on the sidelines for the majority of April and May without a chip on his shoulder. Come the start of next season it will be very obvious to see where he fits in Gerrard's plans.
Whether he's used in rotation with Coutinho or in the same team, either way, the club's record signing must be handed the opportunity to fulfil his potential because another season of 'what could have been' could be one too many in the Premier League.
Another important point to raise about next season is that the Qatar World Cup will be splitting it into two.
The league will halt in November until the end of December, but Buendia will be hoping that he won't have his feet up during the festive season. He has the carrot of making the cut for Lionel Scaloni's 2022 World Cup squad, as do several other members of Gerrard's squad.
But for Buendia, who has only made one appearance on the international stage, the first few weeks of the campaign will be massive for his chances as the team is expected to be named in early October. |
