Norwich City must ‘pull out all the stops’ to keep Emi Buendia at Carrow Road this summer.

That’s the verdict of Canaries legend Chris Sutton, who believes the Argentine will have some big clubs knocking on his door in the close season.

Arsenal were heavily linked with Buendia in January whilst Atletico Madrid have also been mentioned, but Sutton believes the 24-year-old and his relationship with Teemu Pukki are key to Norwich’s prospects of survival next season.

“Norwich have to try and pull out all the stops to keep him (Buendia),” said Sutton, who came through the Canaries’ youth system, scoring 43 goals in 126 games between 1991 and 1994.

“You need your creative players and the ones that are going to nick a goal and he is that player.

“Let’s not kid ourselves – there will be clubs out there who will have been watching him this season. He works hard out of possession as well – there's not a lot wrong with him!

“There will be clubs in for him and maybe he will have his head turned again. Maybe Norwich will have an offer that they just cannot refuse.”

Buendia’s 15 goals and 16 assists this season helped sweep him both the club and the league’s player of the season awards and his relationship with Teemu Pukki has been one of the pillars of City’s promotion push.

Sutton believes it is vital Norwich keep the duo as they provide the sharpness to a much more solid team that graced the Premier League last time.

“Maybe this season, with Ben Gibson for example, Norwich will look to be a bit more solid but Norwich do have firepower in the team,” added Sutton.

“I've always been a big fan of Teemu Pukki. I saw a lot of him at Celtic and they played him in numerous positions, on the right or the left-hand side.

“I think he’s a really intelligent mover and that connection that he has with Buendia – they're telepathic. I used to play with Ruel Fox and we had a really good understanding of where each other were on the pitch. It was similar with Efan Ekoku.

“They are obviously different players, Buendia and Pukki, but they are on the same wavelength.”