Brenden Aaronson lifted a pair of trophies in his first five months in Europe and the American midfielder ended his club campaign in fine form on Saturday.
Aaronson registered two assists as Red Bull Salzburg defeated WSG Swarovski Tirol 4-0 in Jesse Marsch’s final match in charge of the club. It was a proper sendoff for Marsch, who will now take over at Bundesliga club RB Leipzig this summer.
With Red Bull Salzburg already leading 1-0 through Bernardo’s opening goal, Aaronson showed off his strong passing ability in the 26th minute. His through ball into the box was slotted home by Mergim Berisha, who kicked off his eventual Man of the Match performance with his first goal of the afternoon.
Brenden Aaronson with a beauty sliding effort sends in Mërgim Berisha who doubles Salzburg's lead. Aaronson's 4th assist to go with 7 goals in 25 games in all competitions for Red Bull Salzburg | https://t.co/CFX3jIbbIQ pic.twitter.com/HSsgVmlfHb
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Berisha would make it 3-0 before halftime, scoring from the penalty spot for his second goal of the afternoon. The Kosovo international would cap his hat trick in the 66th minute with Aaronson once again playing distributor, this time from close range.
Aaronson cut into the middle of the box before passing to Berisha, who slammed home the final goal of the match. The U.S. Men’s National team midfielder finished his campaign with four goals and seven assists across all competitions, playing a vital role in Salzburg’s domestic double.
Another brilliant assist for Brenden Aaronson and another goal for Mërgim Berisha! Incredible footwork by the 20-year-old American in traffic sets up Berisha's THIRD of the game for Red Bull Salzburg | https://t.co/CFX3jIbbIQ pic.twitter.com/6BoG5kPao5
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The former Philadelphia Union Homegrown will now prepare for upcoming USMNT duty with Gregg Berhalter’s squad for a May 30th friendly at Switzerland in St. Gallen.
Aaronson has very quick feet and a good first touch. He also has good field awareness and can pick out teammates with killer balls. It is still not clear if he is an attacking mid or a defensive mid; he has the ability to run endlessly, takes up good defending positions and wins more tackles than not, but his rather slight build means he is hardly intimidating, also if he is played too deep, his offensive threat is blunted. For the USMNT, in a more defensive setup, he could play as one of two holding mids who have license to get forward as the situation dictates. He might, for example, pair well with McKenzie who likewise is a tireless runner able to tackle and who can be an offensive threat.
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I think he will be hard to keep out of the USMNT picture for long, especially if he moves to a club in a more competitive league.
I think you’ve gotten some bad Intel he has never played as a defensive midfielder nor should he anytime soon. He served as a #10 in Union’s diamond and as wide midfielder for Salzburg (they play kind of a 4-4-2 empty bucket but they generally have so much of the ball his position becomes a wing. He’s good on the counter press defensively but putting him in Tyler Adams like DM role would be a waste. He served as an 8/10 in his first 2 NT matches but played as a winger replacing Reyna and Pulisic in March. Not that it makes much difference but he was listed as a forward in the official NT release for the Swiss match.
Aaronson did play deep for most of his Union career and did defend well, he might not have been listed as a defensive mid, but he tracked back to defend often. It is that sense that I see him more as swing between defense and attack depending on the situation, some would call that a box-to-box midfielder. I think it is a trait that would work well when paired with another hard-working player who has both defensive and attacking talents, like McKennie (not McKenzie, brain and fingers are not always in sync.).
Although he could track back he was the top point in the diamond the #10. He played as a wide player a few times in each season but he never played as a #6 with Union. Medunjanin was the 6 two years ago and either Bedoya or Martinez was the 6 playing in front of the CBs.
I’m a big fan of Brenden and I’m impressed how he continues to improve every time out. However, I’m always shocked by the terrible defending in Austria. It reminds me of Weah at Celtic and Hyndman at Rangers. Is it really just that their clubs are so much better than their opponents that the defenders are just shell shocked and can’t make decisions? Austria and Scotland are ranked 10 and 11 by Uefa but that’s pretty much based on Rangers, Celtic, RBS and LASK. I’m eager to see how he does in his next stop.
Great foot work and COMPOSURE!