Orta sold him for £840k: Leeds must rue losing “dangerous” Aaronson upgrade

Leeds United maintained their place at the top of the Championship table on Saturday when they held Queens Park Rangers to a 2-2 draw at Loftus Road.

Daniel Farke‘s side found themselves 2-0 down in the first-half and staring down the barrel of a second successive defeat away from home in the league.

However, an own goal from Morgan Fox just before half-time and a close-range finish from full-back Jayden Bogle just after the break ensured that they came away with a point for their troubles.

The Whites are now only two points above Burnley, who started the gameweek in third place, and their grip on the automatic promotion places is loosening.

Farke may not be best pleased with some of the individual performances that were on display in West London against the R’s, as several of his stars failed to step up and showcase the best of their abilities.

Brenden Aaronson made a loose pass that directly set up Koki Saito for the opening goal before being hauled off, for Wilfried Gnonto, at the break, in what was the latest in a worrying line of disappointing displays from the American.

Brenden Aaronson’s disappointing run of form

The attacking midfielder, who was on loan at Union Berlin in the 2023/24 campaign, has gone eight games without a goal or an assist in the Championship, starting all of those matches.

Aaronson has also managed just one goal and zero assists in his last 14 appearances in the second tier, all as a starter, which shows that he has struggled to make much of an impact at the top end of the pitch.

The 24-year-old midfielder has been a consistent starter under Farke, despite his recent struggles in the final third, and it will be interesting to see if his latest error against QPR will change anything in the matches to come.

Leeds are in a race to win automatic promotion to the Premier League and their first-choice attacking midfielder, Aaronson, has consistently struggled against the other five teams in the current top six in the division.

As you can see in the table above, the former RB Salzburg star has not produced a single goal or assist to show for his efforts in his ten appearances against the top six sides.

This suggests that the midfield whiz, who has scored eight goals and provided two assists against the other 18 teams, does not have the quality to be a difference-maker against the top teams in the Championship.

Aaronson has not been a reliable figure for Leeds in possession throughout the season, hence his fairly unimpressive return of goals and assists and poor record against the top six, and supporters will be hoping that they do not miss out on promotion as a result of his struggles.

The Whites should be particularly disappointed with the USA international’s performances in the number ten position this season, because they once sold a player for £840k who has gone on to become even better than Aaronson – Mateusz Bogusz.

Mateusz Bogusz’s soaring market value since leaving Leeds

Leeds signed the attacking midfielder from Ruch Chorzow at the start of 2019 and he managed three first-team appearances for the club before his permanent move to LAFC in March 2023.

Reporter Manuel Veth claimed that the MLS outfit agreed a fee of €1m (£840k) to sign the Polish starlet from the Whites, as sporting director Victor Orta decided to part ways with the youngster.

The West Yorkshire outfit must, now, rue that decision to bin him for just £840k during Orta’s tenure at Elland Road because he has shot up in value since his exit from the club.

At the time of writing (16/03/2025), Bogusz is valued at €10m (£8.4m) by Transfermarkt following his move to Mexican side Cruz Azul from LAFC in the January transfer window, which is a staggering increase of 1,090% from the fee Leeds raked in for his services.

The Whites must also regret selling the Poland international because his form for LAFC in 2024 suggests that he would be an upgrade on Aaronson in the current Leeds team.

Bogusz, who has also racked up one goal and three assists in nine games for Cruz Azul to date, scored 24 goals and provided 19 assists in 90 matches for LAFC, with the majority of those contributions coming in the 2024 campaign.

As you can see in the table above, the 23-year-old attacker was in outstanding form for the American side last year, racking up 24 goal contributions in 36 matches.

Bogusz, who was once described as a “dangerous” player by reporter Greg Beacham, has the quality to offer more as a finisher and a creator for his side from an attacking midfield role in comparison to Aaronson, as evidenced by their respective statistics.

The Polish ace has the ability to significantly outperform his expected tally of goals, whilst the Leeds man has spurned too many chances to score, whilst also creating more high-quality opportunities for his teammates to find the back of the net.

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Therefore, Orta made a mistake when he decided to sell the attacking midfield star for just £840k in 2023, as his value has shot up by more than 1000% in the space of just two years, and his performances suggest that he could even improve Farke’s current team.