Brenden Aaronson is on fire to start 2026.
Aaronson scored for the second-straight match on Wednesday, netting twice despite Leeds United’s 4-3 Premier League loss to Newcastle United. He now has four goals on the season for the Lilywhites.
Aaronson opened the scoring for Daniel Farke’s squad in the 32nd minute, slotting home from outside of the 18-yard box. A Newcastle giveaway led to Aaronson racing upfield before drilling a shot into the bottom-left corner.
Harvey Barnes equalized for the Magpies four minutes later though, making it 1-1 from St. James Park.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin regained Leeds United’s advantage in first-half stoppage time, scoring from the penalty spot.
Eddie Howe’s men would peg Leeds United back a second time, as Joelinton’s flick on header made it 2-2 before the hour mark.
Aaronson looked to have had the last laugh, delivering the go-ahead goal with 11 minutes to play. Ilia Gruev played Aaronson upfield on the right wing before the American attacker dribbled and struck a right-footed shot off of the left post and in.
It marked Aaronson’s first multi-goal performance since scoring twice for Red Bull Salzburg against Sturm Graz in September 2021.
However, Newcastle United would flip the script again, using a penalty kick equalizer from Bruno Guimaraes and a winning goal from Harvey Barnes to take all three points.
Aaronson was called for handball on the cross that led to Guimaraes’ tying goal. He was later substituted off before stoppage time.
Newcastle would hang on for a key home victory while Leeds United stayed eight points clear of the relegation zone despite the defeat.
Aaronson admitted his disappointment in Leeds throwing away leads on three different occasions, but knows they can’t afford to hang their heads for long.
“We are all upset,” he said in a club interview. “We know that we let this slip away a little bit but you always have to take the positives. To come here and to go up three times in a row and almost tie and win the game shows how good this team is. We need to just keep going from here.”
Up next for Aaronson and his teammates is a FA Cup trip to second-tier side Derby County on Sunday.
Good to see him score.
Interesting. We’ve seen this guy before…briefly. Right before he went to Leeds he was absolutely dominant for RB Salzburg and had given Bayern fits in a Champions League match, the point it emerged Bayern was tracking him…and his form for the USMNT was such there was a case to be made he was in the best form of any US player in the pool. And then along came Leeds with $30M in hand and suddenly he was in the Premier League, where he even started well and had some promising initial outings.
And then the Prem started physically beating him down, and his form and his confidence nose-dived. So we’ll see if this run of sparkling form lasts.
I still don’t hate it. The more he punches through the Prem wall the more belief he’s going to have, and that always seemed to be his biggest problem.
Brendan has never finished like this. Typically his xG is 2 to 3 pts higher than his actual goals, even at Salzburg. In 2023 his xGot was lower than his xGot which means his shooting was worse than you’d expect someone in his shooting position to have. This year he already has more shots on target than all of that first EPL season. Good attackers like Pepi often outperform their xG it’s unheard of for Aaronson. Does that mean he’s turned a corner or that this is just a hot streak?
JR,
At times he looked like this at Philly. At Leeds he plays more like he did at Philly; a slightly deeper central midfield role within a potential 3-5-2 formation. He presses, a strength for him, gets forward, and pushes the attack. He plays like a hybrid 8 and 10 role. This means he is back to his best spot which is NOT on the wing but as a central attacking midfielder. Since he got back from Germany Leeds have played 68 competitive games across all competitions and he has played in ALL of them.
Taken all together his confidence is sky high and it shows.
In terms of the USMNT the problem is BA’s current role at Leeds, if it were replicated with the USMNT, would mean having our attack revolve mostly around BA.
Do you see him as a preferred central midfield option over Pulisic? Weston? Malik? Gio? Luna? or even Tessman? Jonny (if the best version of Johnny ever shows up)? If you don’t think BA replaces one of those guys , then he gets shuttled out on the wing again.
I don’t see BA reprising his Leeds role with the USMNT. I see BA mostly as a direct threat to Luna.
It’s a good problem to have but some good player is going to be very unhappy.
V: “his finishing has never been better”. At no point in his career has his xGot been this high. Also his shots on target per 90 have never been this good. He’s never had a season were his goals exceeded his xG. His shooting has not only been on frame it’s been in locations difficult for GK to stop. Take his first goal it had an xG rating of .09 (or it should be a goal 9 of a hundred times) but where he placed that shot xGot .61. The second was.10 xG and .45. Against ManU his xG for the goal was only .30 (hardly a gimme) but placed it xGot .68 (meaning it required a very difficult save). So he wasn’t in any great position he just placed them very well. Almost half of his xGot for the season has come in the last two matches. If it was luck we’ll see him slump if it’s something he’s done mentally or physically it should continue to score goals.
JR,
Good points.
“If it was luck we’ll see him slump if it’s something he’s done mentally or physically it should continue to score goals.”
Cliche warning: it is a team game. Leeds is currently doing very well. At some point the rest of the EPL is probably going to figure them out and then we’ll see how Leeds reacts and how BA reacts along with the rest of them
Keep it up Brendo! The US needs difference makers that can come in to a game. Dude is on fire.
Gotta keep your hands down though bud.
It seems Leeds is now positioning Aaronson better to utilize his strengths, and here’s hoping it stays that way. There is a role for that type of players on the USMNT.
It is shaping up to be an interesting March window. Reyna has found his stride at BM, and earned a starting spot. Cardoso is starting to get more minutes at Athletico Madrid, potentially filling a void with Adams injured. The MLS contingent will be starting a new season, fighting for a role. The bench for 2026 may turn out to be our deepest yet.
EASILY! I’ve been following for 20 years. We’ve had 16-18 really good players in the past … this will be the first time (That I recall ) we have had Legitimate competition at positions 24-26. Someone who is a top level pro and pretty deserving is going to get left home… Likely three somebodys based on this Player pool and current season form
So will Leeds fans stop being so toxic towards him now? I doubt it.
He’s been voted fans man of the match the last two matches and probably again for this match. Twitter seemed to be a lot of “I told you trolls he was good” with a small smattering of he cost us the game with the handball. I didn’t check the locations on the twitter accounts so they might have been American Leeds fans. Perri the GK seems to be the new target. He’s atleast on the uptick it appears.
In a span of 3 weeks, I think this kid just punched his ticket to the world cup lol