With Leeds United and Salzburg having achieved their respective objectives, they’ve moved onto the business end of things regarding U.S. men’s national team winger Brenden Aaronson.
The former Philadelphia Union star is set to head to the Premier League in a reported $29.5 million transfer, leaving Salzburg after having won a second consecutive Austrian league-cup double. He is moving to a side, Leeds, that secured safety and avoided relegation on the final day of the Premier League season, and he’ll play for a manager, Jesse Marsch, under whom he previously and briefly played for at Salzburg.
The move makes him one of the most expensive American transfers of all time (Christian Pulisic’s $73 million move from Dortmund to Chelsea remains the standard) and continues his ascent from the Union’s academy to the sport’s highest levels. Aaronson played in the Champions League with Salzburg, playing well vs. Bayern Munich in his opportunity, and while he won’t take part in European competition with Leeds next season, his week-to-week competition will become more difficult with the leap in class from the Austrian Bundesliga to the Premier League.
