Leeds United recorded their second successive win without conceding a goal in the Championship at the weekend as they beat Coventry City 3-0 at Elland Road.
The Whites had beaten Cardiff City 2-0 in the previous match and are now sitting fifth in the table after seven matches, having only lost once so far.
Daniel Farke is plotting a promotion to the Premier League at the second time of asking after his side lost 1-0 to Southampton in the play-off final in May, after they had finished third in the Championship during the regular season.
The German head coach was dealt a number of blows during the summer transfer window, though, as Georginio Rutter, Rennes, Archie Gray, and Crysencio Summerville were all sold, to Brighton & Hove Albion, Rennes, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United respectively.
Their exits did open the door for Leeds to make signings of their own, however, and the likes of Largie Ramazani, Jayden Bogle, Manor Solomon, and Ao Tanaka, among others, came through the door.
Farke’s squad was also bolstered, in an attacking sense, by the return of Brenden Aaronson, who had spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Union Berlin.
Brenden Aaronson's strong start to the season
The USA international is looking to redeem himself at Elland Road, after scoring one goal in 36 games as Leeds were relegated from the Premier League in his first season at the club, and has plenty of work left to do.
The Whites reportedly splashed out a fee of £24.7m to sign the attacking midfielder from RB Salzburg in the summer of 2022 and is currently valued at just £9.2m by Transfermarkt, after difficult seasons with Leeds and Union.
This shows that Aaronson still needs to do more to raise his value and prove that it was not a huge mistake from the West Yorkshire outfit to bring him to England.
Appearances
7
Starts
5
Goals
2
Big chances created
3
Key passes
7
Assists
1
As you can see in the table above, the American dynamo has enjoyed a strong start to the Championship season since his return to the club this summer.
The 23-year-old talent, who still has plenty of time left to develop and improve at his young age, has contributed with five goals and ‘big chances’ created in five starts in the division so far.
This suggests that he is on the right track to redeeming himself at Leeds and, hopefully, there will be many more top-quality performances from the midfielder to eventually justify his huge price tag.
However, things could have been so different for the Whites if they had landed one of their top targets in one of the transfer windows before they signed Aaronson – Rodrigo de Paul.
Leeds United's interest in Rodrigo de Paul
In the summer of 2020, after Marcelo Bielsa had just led the club to the Championship title, it was reported that Leeds were interested in signing the attacking midfielder from Udinese.
One that got away
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The Guardian claimed that Bielsa was very keen to bring the Argentina international over to Elland Road and that it would have cost the Whites a fee of around £31m to snap him up from the Serie A side.
Fabrizio Romano went on to report that Leeds were in talks with Udinese to secure an agreement for the central midfielder’s signature at the start of September, at the time that they were trying to sign Josko Gvardiol – now of Manchester City.
The Argentine wizard had produced seven goals, six assists, and 17 ‘big chances’ created in 34 appearances in the Serie A for Udinese during the 2019/20 campaign, which is why his club demanded a fee of £31m.
Ultimately, no club opted to move for de Paul that summer and former Leeds sporting director Victor Orta later revealed that the financial demands from the Italian side were too much for a team that had just been promoted from the Championship.
The Whites may feel like he is one that got away from them in the end as he has gone on to enjoy a great career in recent years and is now worth more than Aaronson in the present day.
Rodrigo de Paul's current market value
At the time of writing (1/10/2024), Transfermarkt currently has his market value at €30m (£25m) and that is around £16m more than Aaronson is currently worth.
De Paul produced an outstanding nine goals and ten assists in 36 Serie A appearances during the 2020/21 campaign, after Leeds opted against a £31m move for him, and earned himself a move to Atletico Madrid.
The Spanish giants swooped in to secure his services for a fee of around £30m in the summer of 2021 and he has been a key operator for Diego Simeone in recent seasons.
He has racked up 11 goals and 17 assists in 142 appearances in all competitions for Atletico over the last three seasons or so, and has played at least 30 matches in LaLiga in all three of his full campaigns with the club.
During his time in Spain, de Paul also became a World Cup winner with Argentina in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and was a key player for his country.
Starts
7
Pass accuracy
86%
Tackles + interceptions per game
2.6
Duel success rate
53%
Touches per game
93.3
As you can see in the table above, the central midfielder started seven times for Argentina in the finals and played 102 minutes in the final against France, as his side went on to win on penalties.
He has also won two Copa America trophies with his country, either side of winning the World Cup, and this means that the midfielder has won three major trophies for Argentina since Leeds opted against a deal for him.
De Paul has proven himself on the highest stage at international level and proven himself to be a reliable player for a huge European team, in Atletico, which is why the Whites may regret not pushing the boat out to sign him in 2020.
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