Brenden Aaronson used a single word to describe the last year of his life: "Crazy."
Now a growing figure for the U.S. men's national team setup and his club, Red Bull Salzburg of Austria, Aaronson is only about a year removed from playing for the Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer.
Since then, Aaronson's exploits include featuring in Salzburg's group stage matches in the prestigious UEFA Champions League, as well as in Austria's top domestic league where his club is the runaway leader in first place.
This week, Aaronson's in Cincinnati preparing for the USMNT's pivotal FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Mexico at TQL Stadium – a contest Aaronson could very well end up starting in, which in itself is one of the top examples of the prominence he's rapidly ascended to.
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“A lot of crazy things have happened," Aaronson said. "I’m grateful for everything that’s happened."
At some point during the 2019 and 2020 MLS seasons, it became abundantly clear that Aaronson was destined for the highest levels of the game.
Prior to that, though, it took sharp eyes to identify and pluck Aarsonson from a talent-rich youth setup in Philadelphia. One of the sets of eyes that made the correct calls to move Aaronson along belonged to Chris Albright, the former Union technical director and newly-hired FC Cincinnati general manager.
During a Tuesday interview with The Enquirer, Aaronson lauded Albright for the role he played in helping his career ascension.
"Just a great guy. A guy that will give his all for FC Cincinnati," Aaronson said. "I know that this club has had a little bit of a rough start but I think that him being here will help out a lot. He has a lot of football ideas and he’s gonna help a ton. He’s an amazing guy. He did so much for the Union.
"I think that he was one of the main guys that said 'Brenden’s ready for this next step.' That’s what I’ve heard, and I think Ernst (Tanner Ernst, Union sporting director) was too at the time. (Chris) was a big believer in me and when I was doing really well with the USL team in Bethlehem. That was the part where he saw me and thought I was ready for this next step, so I owe a lot to him."
While Albright was with the Union in the front office, he contributed to a kind of soccer renaissance at the club, which has become an annual fixture in the MLS Cup playoffs and in 2020 won the Supporters Shield, which is awarded to the league's regular season champion.
Philadelphia's youth ranks continue to swell with talent thanks in part to Albright's emphasis on player development.
The hope at FC Cincinnati is that Albright will be able to fashion a similar kind of turnaround after last-place finishes in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
During his Tuesday remarks to The Enquirer, Aaronson backed Albright to successfully undertake the challenges that FC Cincinnati's facing.
More:Season in review: The good, the bad and the uncertainties ahead for FC Cincinnati
"He’s gonna bring everything I mentioned to FC Cincinnati. I think you guys are in really good hands," Aaronson said. "You’ve gotta give it a little bit of time because he needs to make the transfers that he wants. He needs support, he needs to bring in his plan and everything like that but I already know the club has a fantastic fan base and that’s what you need."
Aaronson's Cincinnati connections
For a Medford, New Jersey native that's only passed through Cincinnati as a visiting player, Aaronson has a noteworthy amount of connections to FC Cincinnati.
One of the most striking is that Aaronson credits a broken collar bone administered in-game by former FC Cincinnati defender Forrest Lasso as, perhaps, the final bit of encouragement he needed to make the jump into MLS permanently
It was during a second-division USL match in 2018 when Lasso injured Aaronson, then of Union affiliate, Bethlehem Steel FC.
"Forrest Lasso broke my collar bone. I was out for 10 weeks after that," Aaronson said. "I came back from injury and scored, actually. That was my first injury ever and it was tough mentally. I trained super hard on the technical side of things. When I came back, I think a lot of people said, ‘you got better when you got back.’ It was pretty crazy."
It's a toss-up as to whether that Lasso anecdote is something Aaronson thinks back on fondly, but there's more to his intersections with FCC.
Aaronson's professional development was also aided by out-of-contract midfielder Haris Medunjanin, who played three seasons in Philadelphia prior to playing the last two at FC Cincinnati.
Medunjanin said recently he believes he has one more season of professional soccer in him but it remains to be seen where he'll play it.
The relationship between Aaronson and Medunjanin is well-documented, and Aaronson expanded on it again this week.
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"I always say he's like my soccer dad. He was the guy that put his arm around me from Day One and just showed me the ropes," Aaronson said. "He taught me how to be a professional. I can't thank him enough and he's been a huge role model for me. He's a big, big part of my development – pushing me day-in, day-out. Showing me what I need to do better. A lot of credit goes to him. I wish my brother (Paxten Aaronson) had him there (in Philadelphia). He has a lot of other role models there but Haris was just an awesome guys to have ... I can't say enough about Haris and he's an amazing guy, and deserves the best."
In one final interesting overlap between Aaronson's career and Cincinnati, his September 2020 visit to play FC Cincinnati with the Union at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium coincided with news starting to bubble over about his multi-million dollar transfer move to Salzburg.
After the match, which ended in a scoreless draw, Medunjanin called Aaronson "my son over there."
"He wants to run everywhere and I told him, the game is 90 minutes," Medunjanin said. "You know, you cannot hold that for 90 minutes to run everywhere and then when I saw him this year playing, you know, he was more mature. Still 19 years old, you know, but you see, like, everything goes through him. He's sharp on the ball. He's creating chances for them and it was nice to see him today. If he goes to Europe, I wish him all the best and he's going to show that he's a big player."
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