It wouldn't shock me if he did that, and I dont think a decision will be based on the premise of the fans, but if they don't rate him after the '22-'23 disappointment, and the fans hate him, why would they? I don't think he's suddenly become a totally different player since March. I just think he's found his way back to his mean, but is that good enough for them? I doubt it, they've also run through what, 3 or 4 different coaches since they originally tried to acquire him. Not sure the people running the show have any interest anymore, i tend to think he's just a bad contract they need and want to move.
I think Aaronson's game will likely be better in Germany, Italy, Spain, or France simply because the English refs let more physical play go. Until he can learn to play in a way that gets English refs to call the fouls on the players who foul him, he'll be losing out on one of his key offensive attributes (winning free-kicks in attach). And I'm not holding out hope that English refs will start whistling more fouls for a lot of the pushing, shoving, kicking, and grabbing that they routinely let go.
He did get among the most fouls called (on his opponents) in his year at Leeds however. I just think that kind of game really disrupts his flow and contribution (beyond the pressing - he really does read pressing opportunities at an elite level.) As I mentioned early, he surprised me with his contributions this season at Union. I thought he was headed for less field time. I hope he surprises me again. He's a skilled player in tight spaces, I think he could add some "own defensive half" bite/nous to his game and step it up even furhter.
I remember that he was one of the most fouled players while at Leeds, but he was (to my eye anyway) also fouled more than anyone (in Leeds games anyway) without getting a call. Seemed like he was always throwing his hands in the air and complaining to the refs about non-calls. ...and, again, many times (not all!) I thought he was right and, in another league, he would have gotten the call. (...all just impressionistic - no data here.)
Farke! (Please read that name with an English accent...) Didn't know that. Had to look it up. Interesting career - didn't watch any of Leeds after the Yanks left though, so I have little sense for how he likes to play.
He is also a press-y coach. He coached Sargent at Norwich previously I believe, and is rumored to want the US striker too.
And Leeds remain in the Championship. So I think he can't return, which would have had the most upside had they gotten promoted. At this point, they probably should loan him another season, w/ his contract going thru 2027. Hope he can put together a full solid campaign, now he's out of this funk, & has developed in some areas since he was bought for 33m. Going back to UB would be a decent option. The best potential would be if he went to one of the upstart top 5 league teams that surprisingly made UCL - Girona, Brest, Bologna, Stuttgart.
I just wonder if he sticks in Germany. Other than England, he's basically played in Austria or Germany his whole career outside the US. I tend to imagine it could be a Bundesliga side but who knows. Ecstatic to see Leeds stay down.
Despite all the Leeds hate, it would have been best for BA if they'd be promoted. Although he may have done enough at Union to get another Bund loan.
Don't finances (or lack thereof) play into UB not being able to take him again? EPL (and post-EPL) wages and transfer fees are so out of reach outside of England. And with FFP they have to squeeze every penny they can out of the guy, right? Or maybe with them down another year, and very much on different financial footing, they're sell or loan him on the cheap, though a loan option would mean the loaning club would have to foot his EPL sized bill... Who knew going to a crap EPL team and getting relegated with them would limit his options :eyeroll:
"We wish we could buy him but we don't have enough money" is one of the oldest excuses given. Tip: if they turn around and spend twice the amount of money on some similar player, they didn't want to buy him. Now let's see if he did enough for UB to get him again. But since Leeds were so close, and they must have followed his development, this time it may be a bit harder. I think Leeds is going to try to keep him.
That disparity limits players to a few top teams in five leagues, Saudi League and the PL. PL can be a boat anchor if it doesn't work out because then only those few teams in other leagues can take you. Reyna was in that boat but was on one of those few teams where the PL was one of his few options.
Not so sure that him going to Leeds has limited his options as much as his large number of mediocre or plain poor performances. Of course, being at Leeds had a good deal to do with that, but relegated players - Ross Barkley, Gustavo Hamer, Luca Koleosho - can and do catch the eye of potential buyers with good performances. He didn't and his hinrunde play for Union wasn't great either. The real challenge is going to be his wages. Reportedly on a base salary of £2.4 million a season, he's going to be hard to place outside England and even there only EPL and parachute payment Championship sides could afford them, even if there is no transfer fee to be paid.
To be clear, I do not believe that Aaronson is some kind of a bust or that he's coming back to the States and line up for, say, El Paso in the the USL. That's not going to happen. It's just that he hasn't lived up to expectations, which happens, and has some thinking to do and some difficult choices to make. Which happens a lot. I'd lay good money on him playing in the Top 5 or the Big 3-5 in the Tier II leagues next season.
I have a very different response. As I mentioned, I'm surprised he did as well as he did this season at Union. Granted it was not the fairy-tale Union of the past couple of seasons, but still, he's a loanee in a difficult field position who didn't put up numbers, but still got fairly regular minutes - as well as appearing in 6 CL games. In all comps, BA was just 2 games shy of his Leeds appearances, and had twice as many goals!! (2 v 1 lol). I think his loan was reasonably successful. Union is the best team he's played on to date. He's 23, showed he could hang, if not excel. He's now got 78 apps in 2 years across the Bund and EPL and CL... not counting national team games. At 23 he's locked in a solid pro resume. If Leeds don't feel like they're willing to spend the dough on him to try to promote - and thus block loan offers (or if his contract gives him an out of such a block) I'd bet he gets another Bund or EPL shot.
Not coincidentally, I’m sure, as he got stronger Aaronson developed more of a ‘get up and get on with it’ attitude and a greater ability to shrug off lesser challenges.
https://www.leedsunited.news/transf...-leeds-united-player-permanently-this-summer/ lol, Leeds fans want their team to take a £5m loss to "shift him off the books as soon as possible" in case any of us thought they were paying an ounce of attention to how their loaned players fared abroad this past season. Capology had on a £2.3m wage in the prem, which was allegedly reduced to ~£1.5m after relegation, so I can understand why they might want to get him off the books, but also, he'd be earning around as much as Stuart Dallas earned this season (assuming Capology's verified tag means anything...). I don't think £10m (~€11.75m) is an absurd amount to pay for Aaronson given the season he had with Berlin... but I feel like there's a world where they at least give Farke a chance to assess Aaronson before hanging a "for sale" sign on him.
I admit to not being as focused on BA/Union as on some YAs, but I did catch the odd Union game where BA featured across the season, as I like that club *in principal* and from a casual observer's standpoint I feel like BA grew into the club and the league across the season. Rather than letting his early limited minutes derail him, it felt like he upped his game a bit and that key assist was truly an exceptional bit of tight space dribbling and vision. Wherever he ends up, hope he keeps it up. He was never on my "most likely to excel" list, but he's managed to step up at each stop despite the challenges. I'm starting to think he's got a good bit of the grit/determination needed to grind it out at a top league.
I'm hoping the bolded above paired with (HOPEFULLY) a great Copa America from BA will showcase to a team that BA can indeed be useful, rather than put out to pasture.
Yeah, no question at a certain level that BA is a useful player, the question at this point has to be price-points. Leeds not getting promoted puts them in an interesting position as far as cost-benefit. Assuming they can force BA to play in the Champs (I got no idea what his deal is around that) he's a pricey Champs player, but not bank-breaking, unless you really think he's no help at all. Will be interesting to see where Leeds land on his utility vs. what they can offset via a loan - or perhaps a sale, I suppose.