Make no mistake: With less than two years of pro soccer under his belt and his 20th birthday still ahead of him (though only just ahead), Brenden Aaronson is not the finished article. In fact, he’s so far from the finished article that it’s still hard to tell what that will be. Is he a hyperactive shuttler finding his feet in the final third and graduating to full-blown playmaker? Perhaps the hardest working box-to-box midfielder in the squad, destined to make the analytics community drool with ability to move the ball through zones and press for 90 minutes at a clip. Maybe a playmaking winger?
The many options don’t point to a player without a position; Aaronson can embrace any role you give him. He learns his role, studies and works to master it. And then executes with a frenetic, vibrating, trademark energy. Red Bull Salzburg understands this. They are investing what could become a record amount in Aaronson the player, but also in the Philadelphia Union’s development system and philosophy. For Brenden Aaronson to become great, he must never lose the belief that the game has more to teach him, and that it does not give its secrets away easily. Like Mark McKenzie, another entrenched starter rolling in rumors of European interest, Aaronson plays a modern game with ease, unafraid of the work and potential pitfalls of chasing such an outsized dream.
Never pegged as The Next Big Thing beyond those that watched him day in and day out, Aaronson now is that thing. He’s still not physically big, but the rest of the world has finally caught up to what Jim Curtin and the Union have known for a long time: Brenden Aaronson can raise his own ceiling.
There was a time when his ceiling was determined by his size. Aaronson had the feet, the skills, the balance — but he didn’t have the strength. Soccer is generally an unforgiving sport, but it shows its secrets to those that are willing to admit that they must relearn the game at each new level they reach. At the youth level, the best players can capitalize on the errors of others. Professionals make it much tougher. With Bethlehem Steel — now Union II — Aaronson’s magic was often met with pure might. Any work in tight spaces ended with a face full of dirt, and at one point a broken collarbone.
But former Steel captain James Chambers knew from the start that Aaronson wouldn’t give up or give in. Now a coach at the Union Academy, Chambers was a mentor and a walking, talking rite of passage of academy players looking to make it as pros. Aaronson stood out because he was always willing to look for new solutions and admit that the game had things to teach him that he didn’t yet understand.
He began finding space. Drifting out of the center, playing faster and isolating defenders. Now the ball was gone before the brutal hits could arrive, now he created turnovers not with tackles but with pressure so intense that touch went astray and, behold, the break was on.
Graduating to the first team, Aaronson was once again overmatched. Yes, he scored on his debut and yes, he lived rent-free in Brad Guzan’s nightmares, but three goals and two assists, along with only nine shots on goal, signal potential. The top European leagues ask for more.
Salzburg is one of the best clubs in the world at identifying and developing players who have more levels to hit. They take raw talents with boundless hunger and energy and polish them into players capable of pushing the best team in England to its very limit.
The secret sauce that Salzburg looks for in new recruits will come as no surprise to Union fans: Mentality. Relentlessness chases down skill more often than not — and the most skilled players are often those who have pursued such ends tirelessly. In his first year as a professional, Aaronson put in the work to get stronger and run longer, but he also studied the top players in his squad. Attached at the hip to Haris Medunjanin and constantly picking the brain of Ale Bedoya, the teenager showed the first flickerings of moving from looking for space to anticipating it. Watch now how often he starts a run through the lines before the defenders even move to open a gap; this is a Bedoya trademark: A classic bit of brilliance that glides neatly and comfortably under the radar.
And now, in season two, he is creating his own space. Drawing a defender in before playing through the resulting gap in a line, feeling pressure and twisting away to pick out a throughball — these are the flourishes of a subtle artist. Beneath the breathless workrate is a budding understanding of that elusive, magical world in which space exists before it is there.
When they saw Aaronson push himself to greater heights in year two, they moved in, confident that the Union’s path to the pros had helped create a player with a real shot at stardom.
And if Aaronson’s time with the Union is any indication, he will take that shot. It’s what Tommy Wilson and the academy staff taught him to do. It’s what Jim Curtin helped him do — both with a debut and with time to grow once he showed he belonged. And it’s what the Union philosophy was meant to do.
Give young talent the resources and mentality to succeed. Then give them the opportunity on the big stage. Believe in them.
Believe in Brenden. He’s moving to the right club at the right age. And he’ll have Philly in his heart no matter how far his star rises.
