Brenden Aaronson, USMNT midfielder, on being a late bloomer: “I had to be smarter and play the game smarter”
The Leeds United midfielder reflects on a difficult youth development path, late physical growth, and earning his place in USMNT plans for 2026.
As a regular performer in the Premier League, viewed by many as the most demanding league in world soccer, there was never much doubt Brenden Aaronson would be selected to Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT roster for the 2026 World Cup. However, there were moments in Aaronson’s past when he wasn’t certain he would make it in professional soccer.
Aaronson’s early doubts
There are endless tales of young players released by clubs for being “too small.” Some find a way back elsewhere, although many fall out of the sport at the top level before they even get there.
Thankfully for Aaronson, he falls into the first of those two categories, with the Philadelphia Union giving him the chance to fully develop through his teenage years despite question marks over his physicality.
“Doing well at a young age, when everyone’s the same size, that’s when I got scouted by the Union,” the 25-year-old explained to the U.S. Soccer media team. “But as I was getting older, I didn’t really hit the growth spurt until I was about 16. I was a little bit of a late bloomer.”
Learning to adapt
With academies playing such a prominent role in player development nowadays, age 16 is often too late to make a mark. Through game intelligence and sheer hard work, however, Aaronson found a way.
“In my first four years in the Union’s academy, I was just a lot smaller than everybody else. A lot of guys would bully me off the ball and I just had to be smarter and play the game smarter. I had to work on my first touch, being in small spaces so I didn’t go shoulder to shoulder with some of those bigger guys.”
“I think it taught me how to be a better player today.”
From late bloomer to MLS standout
After battling through those tough early years and growing to 5 ft 10 in, three inches taller than Lionel Messi, the player he idolized, Aaronson has established himself at the top level in both club and international soccer.
In only his second year as a first-team player in 2020, the “Medford Messi” was named to the MLS Best XI for the regular season, during which the Union lifted the Supporters’ Shield. That earned Aaronson a move to Europe, first with Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, and then Leeds United in the Premier League.
Premier League experience and USMNT role
Either side of a season-long loan with Bundesliga club Union Berlin and a year in the English Championship, the winger has made 73 Premier League appearances, 58 as a starter, scoring six goals and adding eight assists.
Aaronson will play in his second World Cup this summer after appearing in all four of the USMNT’s games as a substitute at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
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