Norwich City: Link drawn between Borja Sainz and Aston Villa's Emi Buendia | OneFootball

Iwan Roberts has compared Borja Sainz to Emi Buendia

Norwich City legend Iwan Roberts has compared Borja Sainz to former Canaries playmaker Emi Buendia, who was a huge hit during his three-year stay at Carrow Road between 2018 and 2021.

The Argentine midfielder ignited the Championship during his final season with Norwich, where his haul of 15 goals and 16 assists proved crucial to their title-winning promotion back to the top flight.

It's not hard to see, then, why Sainz is earning comparisons to Buendia, having emerged as the division's form player this season. The Spaniard displayed signs of real promise during his opening campaign at the club but has ascended to another level this time around, evidently helped by the summer appointment of popular head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup.

Norwich have endured a mixed and inconsistent campaign amid a more recent injury crisis, though Sainz's form hasn't waned one bit. After scoring his second hat-trick of the season in a stunning 6-1 rout of Wayne Rooney's Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday evening, the 23-year-old remains the Championship's top scorer from the first 17 matches, where he's netted 14 goals while grabbing a further two assists for good measure.

Sainz's performances, mind you, are surely going to establish him as a hot property when the January transfer window comes around, and he's already earned reported interest from the likes of Galatasaray along with La Liga trio Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Athletic Club.

Canaries owner Mark Attanasio has stated the club have no intention of selling Sainz, although Thorup voiced his concern about the January window in the wake of the Spaniard's three-goal haul at home to the Pilgrims.

Norwich City legend Iwan Roberts' Borja Sainz, Emi Buendia comparison

Roberts, who is widely regarded as a Canaries legend after racking up close to 300 club appearances across a goal-laden seven-year stay between 1997 and 2004, lauded Sainz in his latest column for the Pink Un and compared the winger to Buendia and even Liverpool sensation Mohamed Salah.

He wrote: "When the Spaniard got his second, I sent a mate of mine a text saying, ‘he could be gone in January’.

"Fourteen goals in 17 starts - he's the Mo Salah of the Championship. When you're talking numbers, he’s producing big time at the minute this season. I know he didn't do it last season, but it was his first season in a different culture, a different football club.

"He's putting up the sort of numbers now that Mo Salah has done on a consistent basis for Liverpool from a similar position.

"Has he got Premier League quality? I think he has. I've made the comparison so many times with Emi Buendia - I think his best tally was 15 in the second title winning season. Sainz has got great movement and he's got a bit of pace about him.

"The third goal against Plymouth was a typical Sainz goal. He drifts inside, the defender is not close enough, he hasn't forced him to go down the line.

"He's shown him too much, which a lot of them do, and once he's cut inside, there was no other outcome. There was only one place that ball was going to go - to the left of the goalkeeper.

"I think if someone offers stupid money he might go - at the minute I wouldn't accept anything less than £30 million for him. If someone offers £30m, £35m, £40m then I think the club would have to sell.

"Let's be realistic, if the club have any chance of going up this year you’ve got to keep him at least until the end of this season. They did it with Emi Buendia – the club said, ‘just give us another 12 months, help us get promoted back to the Premier League and then we’ll sell you’.

"Give us to the summer and if we get promoted, we’ll rip your contract up and give you a brand new deal which you'll be happy with. Have a year in the Premier League with us, see how things go - if we get relegated, we'll sell you. These are all private conversations they will have.

"What I would say to Norwich fans is: enjoy every second of him while he's here, because I get the feeling he's not going to be here for long. There's nothing they can do about it, it's the nature of the beast. The fans know that Norwich are a selling club - the majority of the teams in the Championship are selling clubs.

"You have got to balance the books now and there are some players on big wages down at Carrow Road. I'm not saying that would be a reason to sell him, but I think Norwich fans, as gutted as they would be to see him move on, especially in January, I think there's an acceptance now that if they have got a super talent, which he is, then sadly, bigger clubs come knocking on the door."

Norwich City will hope Borja Sainz can net similar Emi Buendia profit

As Roberts himself makes reference to, there is a sense of inevitability that Sainz will depart and it's more a question of when than if. Even if Norwich do indeed end up gaining promotion to the Premier League this season, which does appear somewhat unlikely, their chances of retaining Sainz still won't be completely secure, as they also lost Buendia after going up as champions - although his departure did come following the COVID-19 pandemic, of course.

By joining Aston Villa, Buendia netted a handsome £33 million sum for Norwich, who reportedly shelled out just £1.6 million to land him from Getafe in 2018. The colossal cash influx and profit gained by the Canaries did help to soften the blow of his departure and, for what it's worth, one could retrospectively argue they did rather well to collect what they did given the manner in which Buendia's trajectory has since stalled.

They will hope, then, that they can get something similar, or even higher for Sainz, who is poised to leave for a bigger club at some stage, as it would help them to get the best possible replacement - which won't prove easy, it must be said.