Emiliano Buendía has insisted that Aston Villa's extensive summer recruitment drive will not derail the team's ambitions, as the club prepares to open its second Champions League campaign under Unai Emery away at Club Brugge on Tuesday night.
Ten new players arrived at Villa Park before the transfer window closed on 1 September, leaving only five members of the starting line-up from last season's Europa League final victory still at the club. Speaking to Birmingham Live earlier this month, Buendía said the scale of the rebuild is irrelevant because the coaching staff's methods remain constant.
"Our job is to help the new players settle. The structure is there, and it doesn’t matter how many players change because we have a clear philosophy and structure," the Argentine told Birmingham Live. He added that the analytical preparation for each match has not changed, stressing that the mentality must stay focused on winning even when playing away from home.
Buendía knows something about resilience after missing the entire 2023/24 season with an ACL injury, a setback that limited his involvement during Villa's first Champions League run before he departed on loan to Bayer Leverkusen. Since returning twelve months ago he has re-established himself, scoring eleven goals last term including a strike in the European final against SC Freiburg.
"The comeback was very important for me. I worked hard to stay and to help the team be successful, like we were last season," he said. "I want to be important, and I work every day for it. I also want to help the new players who joined the club to be successful together."
Among those newcomers is Goretzka, whom Buendía singled out alongside several younger recruits who have already played for major clubs. He acknowledged that losing long-term teammates is difficult given the shared experiences of recent years, but expressed confidence that the fresh faces are well placed to develop into significant figures at Villa over the coming seasons.
Tuesday's fixture in Belgium represents the first competitive test for this heavily reshaped squad in Europe's premier competition. With the window shut until January 2027, Emery must integrate his new options quickly if Villa are to build on the progress that carried them through last season's continental success.
