England is very much the pinnacle of the sport right now. It's not even close, really. Crushing the UEFA coefficients (top performer in 4 of the last 5 seasons), 7 of the last 12 Champions League finalists (4 different teams), 3 of 12 in the Europa League (2 more teams), and 1 of the 4 in the Conference League (1 more). That's 7 different clubs in European finals in the last 6 years, with a 4th-place finish in the World Cup and a runners-up finish in the Euros to boot.
He moved from the Austrian league and ended up in a EPL relegation battle on a team with no striker. I'm sure he was mentally and physically exhausted from the grind. This type of season is very tough on young attackers. Gnonto looked like the savior for a few games and then quickly came back to earth. I expected this year to be tough for him and was surprised he started so well. Unlock most, I don't think a season for a strong Championship team will be bad for him if Leeds are able to find a decent attacking coach for next year.
They did to him what they did to Puli: foul him early, hard, with no yellow shown. After, the small guy plays scared. He knows they could break him for good. Even if it earns them a red, that won't un-break you.
Aaronson didnt move to the EPL because of deluded fans thats some of the dumbest shit ive read on here.
Aaronson relegation release fee is supposedly £25m, as per ITK people in their forums, so looks like they're stuck with him. No one is paying that.
The fee could be negotiated down or he could just go on loan to get his wages off the books and/or try to rebuild his value. I don’t see the upside to having an asset who struggled with the physicality of the premier league spending a year in the championship. Leeds should be motivated to move him out this summer. Whatever they can get for him will be far more valuable in the effort to gain promotion than anything he’ll provide on the field.
The championship can definitely be physical from a hard fouls perspective but there are lightweight and skillful players in the league. I think he never truly adjusted to the speed of the prem and the lack of time on the ball which would be at a diff pace in championship.
I view him differently I guess. I think he plays plenty fast enough. He’s just not strong enough. I don’t think the Championship will help him with that.
A release clause # is the max a club can insist on, not the minimum a club (and player) can agree to. If someone comes at Leeds with a reasonable number under 25 they will accept, and if Aaronson wants to go, there's no reason they're "stuck with him." Now, will anyone make a reasonable offer and/or does Leeds believe they have a better chance of recouping after a year in the EFL Champs, I dunno, but I still don't think it's the best place for Aaronson to thrive.
I mean the below is FBref. Perhaps I was a bit harsh by calling him amongst the least productive offensive players in the prem but 20th percentile in the Big 5 for npXg+xAG is pretty poor production. And when you couple that with being a non-factor advancing the ball off the dribble and pretty uninvolved in terms of possession (touches and pass attempts) you get a really low production offensive player who is very good at pressing with elite fitness. It was a poor season offensively for him on a very very poor team.
I guess the question is how many is more than "too few" but I was under the impression MLS TV/soc med eyeballs were on a fairly steady upward trajectory. Is that not correct?
Their deal with Apple TV seems to have been a mistake. A league that needed growth urgently in a medium few care about. Bad combo. https://the18.com/en/soccer-news/mls-apple-tv-subscribers-season-pass-cost-total https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/ml...lable-for-first-time-20230522-WST-434033.html To date, since debuting MLS 360 on February 25, every episode of MLS 360 has been available on MLS Season Pass, as well as for free to Apple TV+ subscribers. However, for the MLS 360 broadcast on Saturday, May 20, the program was also made available for free to Apple TV and YouTube viewers. [...] As of Sunday night, May 21, the live and on-demand broadcast of MLS 360 on YouTube was watched 19,682 times.
MLS will get a huge bump after the 26 WC, especially since the league will be in full swing. We probably won't catch the Prem in the next 10-15 years, but we have a great shot at catching everyone else. The eyeballs will come with the stars.
and yet england hasnt won a trophy in international soccer since 1966 what england has is money they have more money in soccer than any other country take away all that money and england would struggle to be a top ten country in club soccer. the money papers over the fact that their internal culture of soccer is poor how many national teams are hiring english managers??? their fan culture and coaching culture is dreadful... look at all of the best managers in the EPL - NONE OF THEM ARE ENGLISH! there's only a handful of english players on their top clubs....if that it may be "the best" but that doesnt mean it is a good destination for american players...for a lot of them it is NOT! over the last 10 years almost all americans that have transferred to english clubs have taken a hit in their career arc..... its a fine place to go once already established and finished as a player...but a poor place if you still need to develop or work on your game or if you arent above average in size and muscle
Lots of small diminutive Attacking players have performed well in the Championship. Amad Diallo was superb this season, James Mcattee similar build to Aaronson from City has performed well or Sheffield United. Harvey Elliot was great for Blackburn a couple of years back, Liverpool's England/Portugal youth international Fábio Carvalho was great for Fulham. This is just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are countless other examples, if Aaronson is good enough there no reason he couldn't flourish in the league.
Would like to see what he could do at a mid-table club in the Bundesliga. But, I'm sure that won't come to pass.
of course some smaller players can do well in the EFL, the question is whether this Leeds team in the EFL is the best place for him. I think it’s very difficult to argue it is. Carvalho was part of a pretty special Fulham side and had been an England youth international for years - so his acclamation I’d suggest was easier - and he’s very good. I hope I’m wrong if BA stays. MLS can be physical and direct and he survived his Union days, I just don’t think his game will translate as well to EFL as it would to a number of other leagues.
My impression is that he was fouled a lot more than the fouls were called. I don't remember when/where, but I do remember someone (either an in-game analyst or an article) saying that if he didn't whine so much to the refs, they would probably give him more fouls. Anyway, I think refs in England have a much greater penchant for letting things go, and that will likely be true in the Championship. In another league, I think drawing fouls could be a much greater attribute, simply because the fouls would be called. ...perhaps why he held up well in Champions League too? Just an impression, of course. No idea how many fouls he actually drew, and I'm sure there's no stat on how many he *should* have had!
Either A) Apple was just interested in how much traffic they could move into Apple TV using MLS as bait (not sure what the professional term is for that) or B) they intend to grow together. I loved the old MLS ET with the cast of 3 stooges they put together but the shiny new toy MLS360 leaves me cold (brrrrr). I started listening to Sirius programming (Grumpy Pundits, Counter Attack with wynalda, meola et al, and The Football Show, etc). This morning the Italian dude and Meola were on The Football Show and there was a lot of Serie A hype. Let's hope we'll see some Americans in Serie A next season.
Different leagues call fouls differently and it's up to the player to shape his game around it. If you stand still over the ball in the BL anybody can push you and it's no foul - as Sarge found out. It's about keeping the game going. I stopped watching hockey partially because I got tired of watching two guys fighting over a puck that one guy had pinned against the boards. I'm not really sure what the deal is with English refs and Aaronson because we don't really get close ups of fouls not called.
A Fulham side that had been relegated from the PL the prior season with an even worse record than Leeds had in 22-23. As for Fab, the highest int'l level he'd played at heading into that season was the England U18's. Brenden is a full US Int'l who has played in the World Cup, Champs League...and of course is coming off playing 2400 minutes in the English Premier League. I don't think acclimatizing will be much of an issue.
Again, hope you're right - regarding his youth national team experience, I was more referring with Fabio to being used to the players/game in the EFLC - (Fulham's yo-yo experience in and out of the EPL/EFLC was a bit different than Leeds, but a big part of the question will be who Leeds retains/buys on the playing front.) We may even have a chance to see it play out. If BA stays in the EFLC what kind of numbers do you expect him to put up and what would be a successful season for you?