Promotion is great. For Leeds United, the Premier League is where they belong.
However, for plenty of players, the euphoria of winning the Championship or simply sealing promotion in general is shortlived.
While Coventry City have placed faith in many of the players who got them up, Leeds and Sunderland laid a blueprint that ripping up your squad and starting again is a wise idea.
The Whites signed ten players in the summer of 2025 and another seven in the summer of 2026. Of those 17 signings, nine are regular starters.
It’s meant that the likes of Brenden Aaronson have suffered.
Why it’s time for Leeds to sell Brenden Aaronson
Aaronson is a polarising figure. He’s a hustle and bustle sort of character and on some days, he looks great.
There was a stage last term where it finally looked as though the American was coming good in Leeds colours. During the course of a seven game spell that started with Liverpool on 6th December 2025 and ended with Newcastle on 7th January 2026, the attacking midfielder registered two assists and three goals.
Was he turning the corner on a pretty ordinary career at Elland Road? Well, the short answer was no. The 25-year-old didn’t score again during the remaining 17 matches of the Premier League season.
It summed up his stay in Yorkshire. He’s been mightily inconsistent and has struggled to produce regular numbers.
That’s been the story again this term. While Aaronson started the opening match of the season with Nottingham Forest, he was dragged off at half-time in the 1-1 draw with Brentford and hasn’t started a league fixture since.
|
Aaronson’s record at Leeds |
|
|---|---|
|
Games |
136 |
|
Goals |
15 |
|
Assists |
10 |
|
Yellow cards |
6 |
|
Minutes played |
9,213 |
|
Weekly salary |
£80k |
|
Contract expiry |
June 2029 |
|
Signed for |
£25m |
He did score in that remarkable 6-3 defeat in the Carabao Cup to Chelsea but that remains his only goal involvement of 2026/27.
Sadly for Aaronson, he’s only being bumped further down the pecking order now and after a number of underpar years in English football, he should take his leave next year. He has only ever scored 15 goals in 136 matches; that isn’t good enough for a £25m signing.
The easy route to replacing Aaronson
Fortunately for Farke, he has a number of options in that area of the pitch and it’s dictated by the change in formation that helped seal Leeds’ survival last term.
The German structures his team with three defenders and two wing-backs, meaning he subsequently packs the midfield and operates with a two pronged attack.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is the out and out number 9 while someone of Aaronson’s ilk operates slightly behind him.
Aaronson played that role against Forest on the opening weekend of the season. Harry Wilson then had a run of games in that position and now it’s Noah Okafor’s position to lose.
With that in mind, it really does look as though the USMNT star is fighting a losing battle for regular minutes this team.
While Wilson has endured a sluggish start to his Leeds career, he has proven in years gone by that he’s a more than capable player at this level.
Okafor was also electric towards the back end of last term, scoring six goals in his last seven Premier League matches. So, for now, they should be the focus for Farke.
Leeds have a wildcard option to replace Aaronson
The beauty of the World Cup is that pre-season gives you a chance to see players you wouldn’t usually see in action.
With players like Gabriel Gudmundsson and Aaronson with the countries over the summer, there were opportunities for academy players such as Jayden Lienou, Alfie Cresswell and Rhys Chadwick to gain first-team minutes.
There was also a sliver of action for 18-year-old Callum Mills who is making all the right noises in his pursuit of regular senior football.
During pre-season, he featured regularly, playing 46 minutes of the 3-2 defeat to Wrexham, as well as manaing 50 minutes against Sunderland.
In that game, he didn’t look out of place against Premier League opposition. Playing from the left flank, the YEP’s Graham Smyth noted that he ‘looks promising’ and had ‘a couple of nice moments in transition’.
While he didn’t totally blow fans away with his performances, there is certainly a lot of potential there and his displays at youth team level this term tells you a lot.
Against Barnsley in the EFL Trophy, versus senior opposition no less, he scored a hat-trick in a triumphant 4-3 win. In the process of netting that trio of goals, he became the youngest hat-trick scorer in the competition’s history. Impressive, right?
So, we know he’s capable of finding the back of the net but what else is he all about? Well, in the eyes of Mills himself, he’s something of a risk-taker.
Speaking to the club’s official channels after signing his first professional contract over the summer, the teenager said: “I feel like I am quite a creative player. I don’t like playing simple all the time but I just do what I think is right on the pitch.”
What should stand the youngster in good stead for a first-team breakthrough is his versatility. He looks really well suited to the system Farke likes his team to play with.
While Mills is an attacking midfielder by trade, he played in defensive midfield, on the wings and as a striker at various points last season. It was a campaign in which he caught the eye, specifically in the U18 Premier League where he scored five goals and registered four assists across 21 appearances.
So, Aaronson better watch out. Mills has already had a taste of senior football and he’s ready and raring to take advantage of some sub-par displays from the American this season.
Leeds are much better off investing in the future than they are Aaronson.
