Aaronson takes first step on long road to Leeds salvation after letting ‘hero’ status slip with miss
Brenden Aaronson started life at Leeds with immense promise but tried to engineer a move away in the Championship. There is still hope for the American.
Brenden Aaronson’s first goal for Leeds United epitomised everything that had convinced the club to fork out £24.7million for the American midfielder and why, at the time, he was viewed as a key cog in the United States’ future at international level.
The goal came at Elland Road on August 21, 2022. It was just his third appearance for the club since a summer arrival from Red Bull Salzburg and Chelsea were the visitors. The game was 33 minutes old when Aaronson – in what those familiar with his MLS and Bundesliga past would recognise as his trademark style – raced to close down opposition goalkeeper Edouard Mendy before deflecting the ball into the Blues’ net.
Leeds went on to win 3-0 – their first victory over Chelsea in two decades – and started a three-game unbeaten streak to mark their return to the top flight after a 16-year absence. They thought they’d just witnessed the crowning of a new hero, too.
Then-Leeds manager Jesse Marsch praised his fellow American’s ‘relentless’ pressing and endeavour. But that was as good as it got for Aaronson that season. He went goalless for the rest of the term – a barren run of 37 matches – and after Leeds were relegated back to the Championship at the end of the campaign, the former Philadelphia Union prospect was off, joining Bundesliga side Union Berlin on loan.
Many Leeds fans viewed Aaronson’s departure as a sign of how the USMNT star lacked loyalty, unwilling to take a step back into the second tier to help the club fight their way back into the top flight.
And supporters’ disdain for the New Jersey native only grew when – despite a disappointing season with Union that saw him used more often as a substitute than as a starter, scoring just two league goals – he expressed a desire to stay in the German capital.
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“I can see myself remaining here,” he told Get German Football News in April. “The club is amazing. It’s not up to me at the end of the day but I have so much respect for Union, the way it has been built, the staff, it’s an amazing family club and they’ve done an amazing job. For me, it’s [about] making the right decision in the summer, evaluating the year and going from there. Staying is an option but I can’t say much more.”
Aarsonson didn’t get his wish. Shortly after the Bundesliga season ended, Union released a statement thanking the Leeds loanee for his efforts while confirming they would not be attempting to sign him.
Two seasons of sub-par form have seen Aaronson’s status within the United States national team slide. After a senior international debut in a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in January 2020, he spent much of the next two years as either a starter or a heavily-used substitute for the USMNT, featuring in all of Gregg Berhalter’s side’s four games at the 2022 World Cup.
But when the States hosted the Copa America earlier this summer, Aaronson came off the bench with four minutes to play in the opening game against Bolivia and was then not seen again as the home nation crashed out in the group stage.
The subject of audible boos during a pre-season friendly against Valencia, his reluctant return to Elland Road offered no safe haven for Aaronson. And his arrival off the bench for Leeds’ first Championship game of the new campaign, at home to Portsmouth last weekend, was greeted with jeers from sections of the support, too.
Once on the pitch, though, Aaronson took significant steps toward making amends. Showing the endeavour and energy that had made him an exciting signing what now feels like an age ago, he pressed, harried and, despite a touch of sloppiness to his play, maintained a positive demeanour.
And in the 95th minute, with Leeds unexpectedly trailing 3-2, he fired a low shot into the bottom corner of the Pompey net from just inside the penalty area. Zero boos met his dramatic equaliser.
There were groans shortly after, though. The beneficiary of an even more presentable opportunity than the one he’d just slotted away, Aaronson found himself unmarked in the Portsmouth box, just to the left of the penalty spot. The chance to grab three points for his side, repair the rift with the fans and take a leap toward injecting his still-young career with some much-needed momentum lay before him.
He screwed his shot wide.
“Could have been the hero,” Leeds boss Daniel Farke said of Aaronson’s performance against Portsmouth. “Normally a player of his quality scores this and everyone sings his name. Cannot press a button and be the hero again. Takes time to win the crowd back and be trusted. Take the positives out of your first goal in your first game back and there will be more moments from here in the future.”
Much aside from currying favour with the Leeds faithful, the watching world needs to see a lot more of 95th-minute Brenden Aaronson than 96th-minute Brenden Aaronson for the sake of the player’s club and international future.
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