With the calendar flipping to 2026, we’re officially in a World Cup year, and performances mean quite a bit more for players looking to make the squads of teams who have qualified. A run of form at the right time can be the difference between making the squad and watching from the couch at home. It’s even more significant if you play for a host country like the United States, as Leeds’ Brenden Aaronson does. His brace on Wednesday may not have been enough to secure victory over Newcastle United as they lost 4-3, but it is a moment that shows how a confident Aaronson has arrived in the Premier League at just the right time.
It’s the second consecutive game with a goal for Aaronson, and now his fourth goal contribution (three goals and one assist) in the past four games for Leeds. He couldn’t pick a better time to round into form, both helping the team move further away from the relegation zone and also strengthening his case for Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup squad. Neither of those things seemed close to a given for Aaronson at the beginning of the season.
Despite playing a large role in Leeds United’s return to the top flight from the Championship, Aaronson had to fight for his spot in the Premier League. It’s something that he’s familiar with after falling out of the starting XI during the 2022-23 season when Leeds were relegated to the Championship and then having been sent on loan to Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, for the following season, where he then struggled for playing time. Once again needing to earn his spot was just another preseason for the American.
Under Daniel Farke, Aaronson has done just that, and he’s also been played in a more advanced role, almost as a second forward with striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin. It’s a role that he’s been thriving in now, netting his fourth goal of the season. Not known as a goal scorer by trade, that’s Aaronson’s highest goal return ever in a top five league, and currently is in a tie as his third best league scoring season for any of the clubs that he’s ever played at. With 2.89 expected goals on the season, Aaronson’s running a little hot, but he’s not drastically overperforming either, and with shots like his against Newcastle, you can see why he’s doing more with less (his goals have come from a grand total of 13 shots on target).
That’s a finish of a confident player, and at 25, Aaronson is playing some of the best soccer of his career, which is also being noticed by the national team. After being left out of the USMNT’s squad for the Concacaf Nations League and the September international window under Pochettino, it seemed like Aaronson might be at risk of not making the World Cup, but as the USMNT closed out 2025 with three consecutive wins, the Leeds man was involved in all of them.
It’s still a long road to make the World Cup in 2026, but Aaronson is doing what he needs to do to ensure that he’ll have a chance for the next tests along the way, friendlies facing Belgium and Portugal in March. Pass those tests, and the second World Cup of Aaronson’s career could be in his future.
