Brenden Aaronson has underlined his true value to Daniel Farke’s squad
Leeds United have spent the past two weeks finding transfer solutions to replace departed duo Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter.
Daniel Farke was always braced for the possibility of both players leaving this summer, with Rutter in particular a difficult player to replace. While Summerville rightly claimed many of the headlines last season, Leeds alway knew they had Dan James and Willy Gnonto capable of filling his boots on the flanks, at least to some degree.
However, finding someone who can play between the lines as Rutter did was always going to be a challenge following Brighton’s £40m move for the Frenchman. Leeds maintained their unbeaten start to the league season by chalking their first win on Friday night, with the 2-0 success over Sheffield Wednesday offering a welcome boost to morale.
Not only that, it was a useful reminder of the talent Farke already has at his disposal ahead of Friday’s transfer deadline. Brenden Aaronson returned to the club this summer after a season on loan at Union Berlin, and let no one in any doubt why Farke was so keen to re-intergrate him into the squad.
The USA international opened the scoring to add to his goal against Portsmouth on the opening day, and explained just what his role will be on his Leeds return.
“It is always great to get a goal, especially in the position I play,” he said following the win at Hillsborough. “I am always trying to create and score goals, so that is really good.
“I think for me, I am always a guy who will work for the team most of all. Whether that’s in the press or working against the ball, but I think I also bring a lot with the ball, creating and scoring goals. That’s been my biggest goal this year, I want to score goals, get assists and help the team.”
Aaronson is looking to play a key role in Leeds’ promotion push this year, and was delighted to put on a performance in front of the travelling fans.
“It feels really good,” he said. “I am really happy with the team, happy with the way we played tonight, it was all around a great performance.
“When you come here, it is going to be tough for the first 15 or 20 minutes. They are going to be pressing, they’re good at pressing, so they were going to make it hard for us.
“We knew coming into it that in the first 15 or 20 minutes, you’d have to weather it a little bit, then after that, you can get a rhythm. Then if you can get a goal, you can play from there.”