Phil Hay believes Brenden Aaronson will take Rodrigo’s role in the Leeds United side in the near future.
It was almost a dream debut for Leeds’ new American as he thought he had netted the winning goal in front of a packed-out Elland Road, only for the goal to be taken off him and ruled as an own goal.
Despite that, he still left his mark on the game and was very influential racking up the most pressures and managing to progress the ball up the pitch the most (as per FBRef), which should see him retain his spot in Jesse Marsch’s side going forward.
Speaking on The Phil Hay Show, Hay believes that Aaronson will keep his place, but perhaps at the expense of Rodrigo in the weeks to come.
He said: “His pressing [at RB Salzburg] was absolutely outstanding, his numbers are great. I feel that over time, we’re going to see him taking on, more and more, the central position behind Bamford. I know we’ve got Rodrigo in there at the moment, Rodrigo scored at the weekend, but Aaronson, his off-the-ball work is very good; his on-the-ball work is very good as well.
Who should start behind Bamford?
Aaronson!
Rodrigo!
“I think you get a lot of different things from him – you get the pressing, obviously, but you get the creativity and the craft on the ball, and you also get an appetite for goalscoring.”
TIF Thoughts on Aaronson’s role in the team…
It will be a very much welcomed headache for Marsch, having to choose who is best suited to the important role behind Bamford and to actually have options, compared to last season when he inherited a very threadbare squad.
Aaronson certainly hit the ground running last weekend, but it will now be interesting to see if he can keep up that level of performance once teams and managers figure out how he plays and the pockets of space he likes to pick up. Although, Rodrigo also put in a good performance and was labelled as ‘excellent’, so it remains to be seen as to what Jesse Marsch will do.