Surprise joy for Leeds United man hints at promising progress from Premier League pain

With so few fixtures played, it's difficult to get an accurate read of individual performers and their contributions from the data, beyond obvious headline indicators of success like goals, assists, big chances created and missed etc. Analysing a player is best done over a lengthy period of time, because of the need to account for dips, blips and spikes in form. What might jump out after just a few games might well become seen as an anomaly rather than a trend, across an entire campaign. For example, the man currently leading the Whites in xG [expected goals] this season is not one of Daniel Farke's attackers, but centre-back Pascal Struijk. Taking two penalties inside the first six games has contributed to that, along with a few chances from set-pieces, but come the end of the season it would be a shock - an alarming one - to see the defender or any defender topping that particular chart. Last season the top six Leeds men for xG were all forwards and wingers. In the relegation campaign of 2022/23 the top five was made up entirely of attackers. Similarly, Struijk sits joint top of the 'big chances missed' column but by the time May rolls around he will likely have been left behind by all those plying their trade in and around the final third and finding themselves with regular shooting opportunities.

But even if the 46-game Championship reveals that Aaronson's performance in a certain metric was unsustainable, it still feels remarkable enough to note. The American is known for his energy levels as he scampers around the pitch trying to get in amongst the opposition. He's known for drawing fouls, trying to beat men and looking to create. When you picture his best moments as a Leeds player, especially since his return from loan, they would nearly all be with the ball at his feet. Scoring goals, playing passes through defences, setting Joel Piroe on his way to goal at Cardiff.

What about when the ball is in the air? In Saturday's game at Cardiff Aaronson went into three aerial duels and won two of them. The sight of him winning even one was enough to trigger a thought because this is a player the word 'physicality' has followed around like a bad smell since his Premier League entrance for Leeds. Not big enough, not strong enough - the verdict on his ability to withstand the rigours of English football was damning enough that he addressed it in an interview, and in the gym, last season while at Union Berlin. Against Burnley, Aaronson found himself challenging for the ball in the air twice and came out on top, twice. Against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, facing the blue-and-white-striped cast of a 2024 BFG retelling, he lost three aerial duels - but he did win one.

This season so far Aaronson has gone up for a header with an opponent on 13 occasions and counted himself the victor on seven of those. A 54 per cent win rate in a single game would be a matter of pride for a player measuring around 5ft 10ins, let alone across six games. His first season at Leeds, in the Premier League, saw him win 17 per cent. Last season in the Bundesliga he won 44 per cent - a vast and dramatic improvement.

Aaronson's heat map for the 2024/25 campaign shows that most of his work is carried out in the opposition half where he comes up against defenders, a lot of whom will tower over him. One of his successful flick-ons, in Saturday's game, came when he out-jumped Joel Bagan, who is listed as 6ft plus a little bit. And for a team like Leeds with as diminutive an attacking line-up as you'll likely find - Manor Solomon, Willy Gnonto, Largie Ramazani and Daniel James are all shorter than Aaronson - any source of joy in the air is to be celebrated.

Elsewhere on the pitch, another 5ft 10ins man is doing the business for Leeds thus far. Right-back Jayden Bogle has won 65 per cent of his aerial duels. Junior Firpo has won 61 per cent of his and Pascal Struijk is sitting on 67 per cent so far. The leader, however, is Leeds' captain himself Ethan Ampadu, with a 71 per cent success rate in the air.