Brenden Aaronson could still be my American boy — Square Ball 27/8/24

Better than MaxWritten by: Chris McMenamy

Brenden Aaronson is Leeds United’s top goalscorer after three games. If he continues this form, he’ll score 31 goals this season. That’s a solid way of seeking absolution for previous sins, and a much better approach than his teammate Max Wöber has taken.

It’s still jarring to see Aaronson in a Leeds jersey. Out of the eight loan rats who scuttled off last summer, only Rasmus Kristensen seemed likely to return. And that was because he’s useless. Wöber and Aaronson’s return felt like their admission of mediocrity, that they weren’t good enough to make it elsewhere.

Their stories seemed destined to end with 35,000 people telling them that they’re not fit to wear the shirt. After all, they abandoned the club in its moment of need like the rest of them.

It was hard to see a way back for them when they returned this summer. All we had to evidence Aaronson’s intentions were some vague fluff pieces about how he wanted to “prove” himself, while Wöber remains written off as someone expected to leave — with his calf injury conveniently coinciding with further reports he could return to Borussia Monchengladbach.

Their roads to redemption have taken vastly different paths since both were booed on to the pitch at Leeds’ final warm-up game against Valencia. Wöber phoned in a performance in the 3-0 League Cup loss to Boro as half-arsed as Leeds’, while wee Brendy has given it everything to make his way into the fans’ good books.

Without trying to sound ungrateful, his efforts can seem a little too keen at times. Perhaps it’s a consequence of his chaotic, taurine-fuelled playing style, or just a desire to make up for lost time. Still, he offers a lot more in the middle than Joel Piroe does.

Daniel Farke’s decision to start Aaronson at 10 against Sheffield Wednesday showed a bravery that I didn’t believe the manager had. I expected to see another failed experiment with Piroe at 10 until Farke hauled him off around the seventy-minute mark. Instead, we got to see our one time American Boy looking lively against a Wednesday side that appeared to have been sent out with no instructions. Presumably Danny Röhl is still worn out from talking during ITV’s Euro 2024 coverage and simply shrugged at his players before walking out of the dressing room.

Aaronson took the game to Wednesday early on, picking up loose balls and putting himself about in deeper areas of the pitch, which is exactly how his goal came about.

He made space just outside the Leeds penalty area to receive a pass from Jayden Bogle, but the pass went up the line to Dan James. Brendy reacted, setting off like a greyhound and met a flick from James that broke the first line of Wednesday’s defence and launched a rapid counter-attack. The ball went in-field to Gnonto and the play focused on his interaction with Mateo Joseph, while Aaronson raced past Svante Ingelsson into open space.

Joseph was clattered by the covering winger, but Aaronson was on hand to pick up another loose ball. He did a little dance before slotting it past the ‘keeper to put Leeds in front. I have a habit of looking at games with a long-term view when we’re only three weeks into the season, but I wonder how important that goal might be by the end of this season. We almost certainly would have won anyway, but the timing of his goal just eased the pressure a little and rewarded Leeds for a much more proactive start than at West Brom last week.

You could ask the same question of his late equaliser against Portsmouth, or find yourself pondering how costly his late miss could be. Either way, Aaronson has been heavily involved in Leeds’ season to this point, which few probably expected. We were supposed to have Georgi Rutter right now, but perhaps it’s time to ask if we have our new number 10? Has the Red Bull logo triggered something deep in Aaronson, like a sleeper agent activated by a codeword? Who is this new Brenden Aaronson?

The answer is quite possibly that Aaronson is a decent player who was thrust into a bad situation at Leeds in 2022/23. Jesse Marsch’s job was under scrutiny by October, the season was disrupted by that weird winter World Cup, and then Leeds had three managers in three months after January.

The transition from the footballing kindergarten that is the Austrian Bundesliga to the English Premier League must be huge. Aaronson made that leap while Leeds United were imploding. It’s hard to imagine that he had much time to improve tactically and technically when Marsch seemed to prefer providing the motivational rhetoric normally reserved for pyramid scheme marketers, and his replacements spent the entire time firefighting.

Aaronson failed at Leeds the first time and certainly found himself weighed down by his £28m price tag, but there were extenuating circumstances. Hindsight allows us to say that. A year ago, my opinion on him would not have been safe to read — and I wasn’t alone in that.

The same could be said of the player he has ‘replaced’. Although Rutter didn’t push for a move away in the days after Leeds’ relegation, he was an overpriced flop who Leeds couldn’t sell for love nor money.

It’s not a given that dropping down to the Championship fixes everything. It worked for Rutter last season and early signs suggest Aaronson might be on a similar path, but it hasn’t worked for Wöber, although he seems destined to get out of town before the window closes.

The bank of evidence is too small to make grand projections of Aaronson’s future success at Leeds, but it’s hard not to feel positive. He’s going about it in the right way and surprising a lot of people. If Leeds United won in their away kit then that proves anything is possible, including the rehabilitation of our American boy.