Leeds United have built up a six-point gap between themselves and the bottom three in the Premier League after their 2-1 win over West Ham United last week.
Three wins, two draws, and four defeats in nine matches is a respectable return for Daniel Farke’s side after their promotion from the Championship in the 2024/25 campaign.
Prior to this season, the last six teams to have been promoted from the Championship had all been relegated at the first attempt, which illustrates the size of the task ahead of the Whites.
Not only did that mean that Leeds needed to recruit well, which they have with the likes of Noah Okafor and Sean Longstaff, but they also needed some of their stars from last season to make the step up.
The Whites did not recruit an entire new starting line-up and bench to bolster their squad for the Premier League, instead hoping that some of their players could bridge the gap.
One player who is still looking to convince supporters that he is good enough for the top-flight is Brenden Aaronson, who has revived his Leeds career.
How Brenden Aaronson has revived his Leeds career
In the summer of 2022, Jesse Marsch and Victor Orta swooped to sign the American attacking midfielder from RB Salzburg for a fee of £28.5m to bolster the club’s options for the 2022/23 Premier League campaign.
Aaronson scored one goal from 3.86 xG in 36 appearances in the division that season, earning himself the lowest Sofascore rating (6.51) in the entire division, as he made the website’s ‘Worst Team of the Season’.
The USA international opted to go out on loan to Union Berlin for the 2023/24 campaign, rather than remain at Elland Road to fight for promotion from the Championship, at which point the writing appeared to be on the wall for his career at the club.
However, Aaronson returned to the club after his loan spell and Farke revealed that he was “desperate” to help the team, and that he would need to win his place by working hard.
The American was met with some “boos” from supporters, per reporter Graham Smyth, in pre-season, but he then went on to feature in all 46 Championship games as Leeds racked up 100 points, scoring nine goals.
This shows that he proved to Farke, with his performances in training and in matches, that he could be a reliable player for the head coach, and that has carried over to the Premier League.
Appearances
9
xG
1.62
Goals
1
Key passes
9
Big chances created
3
xA
1.27
Assists
0
Duel success rate
52%
As you can see in the table above, Aaronson has not set the Premier League alight with his performances, with one goal in nine games, but he has been a solid performer and has been unfortunate not to register any assists.
Overall, it is fair to say that the 25-year-old has revived his Leeds career, after it looked all-but-finished when he joined Union Berlin on loan, thanks to his hard work and performances on the pitch.
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Aaronson, though, was not the first member of the current first-team squad who revived his career after being sent out on loan by the club. Dan James was the original Brenden Aaronson.
Why Dan James was the original Brenden Aaronson
A year before the American was signed by the Whites, Marcelo Bielsa and Orta swooped to sign James from Manchester United for a fee of £25m to bolster the team’s options out wide.
The Wales international scored four goals and provided four assists in 34 matches in the Premier League in his first season at Elland Road, per Sofascore, but ended the campaign with a new manager in Jesse Marsch.
Despite starting three of the first five league games at the start of the 2022/23 campaign, James was then sent out on loan to Fulham in the summer of 2022, and claimed that he made the move because he “wanted to play games”.
After that move was confirmed, journalist Phil Hay almost wrote off the winger’s chances of continuing his career at Leeds in the future. He wrote: “I don’t think I see Dan James coming back, or it feels like a long shot. James is 24. He’s not especially young and Leeds have essentially said to him that they can do without him this season.”
You can see where Phil Hay was coming from. Leeds were willing to let a player they signed for £25m a year earlier join another Premier League team on loan.
However, the Whites were relegated from the Premier League that season and Fulham did not opt to sign James permanently, which led to him emerging as a star under Farke in the Championship.
The Wales international scored 13 goals and provided seven assists in 40 appearances in the second tier in the 2023/24 campaign, per Sofascore, which shows that his performances paid back the faith that the German head coach showed in him.
Appearances
40
36
xG
10.0
10.46
Goals
13
12
Conversion rate
16%
12%
Big chances created
13
16
Key passes per game
1.4
1.3
Assists
7
9
As you can see in the table above, James delivered consistent quality at the top end of the pitch in his two seasons in the Championship under Farke, with 25 goals and 29 ‘big chances’ created.
The winger claimed last season that he wants to be “ruthless” and has a “ruthless” mentality, which is evidenced by his impressive goal return, as he outperformed his xG in both of those seasons.
James has yet to score a goal in the Premier League so far this season, but he has started three of his six appearances and is a key member of the squad.
His revival of his Leeds career, which looked on the ropes after his move to Fulham in 2022, pathed the way for Aaronson to follow in his footsteps after being in a similar position a year after James’ remergence at Elland Road.
James was the original Aaronson and now both players are brilliant examples for the club to show future players that there is always a chance to revive their careers, if they are willing to put the hard yards in to be reliable on the pitch.