‘Letting the fanbase down’… 23-year-old Leeds United player says he lost all his confidence last season

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Brenden Aaronson has claimed he felt like he was letting Leeds United’s fanbase down at times last season.

Aaronson was speaking in an interview with the Athletic, where he reflected on a difficult year at Elland Road and just how much it affected his confidence levels.

The 23-year-old made the move to Leeds in the summer of 2022 just a matter of days after Premier League survival was secured on the final day of the season at Brentford.

With Leeds having spent almost the entirety of January chasing him, his £25 million arrival from Red Bull Salzburg was met with some excitement as the Whites got to work on revamping the squad.

After enjoying a promising start to life at Leeds, Aaronson’s form seemingly fell off a cliff following the World Cup, with his performance levels progressively getting worse as the season went on.

Aaronson says he let Leeds fans down

His lack of confidence was evident to see almost every time he stepped out on the pitch for Leeds, and he felt as though he was ‘letting the fanbase down’ with the performances he was producing.

He said: “At the end, it was really tough, confidence-wise, to go out there. I didn’t feel like I was playing my best. I feel like I was letting my team-mates down, I felt like I was letting the fanbase down at times.

“You’re thinking all the time. You’re not just playing. And I think when I’m playing my best is when I’m enjoying the game and I’m in a flow state. There’s no thinking, there’s just playing and just doing what I feel and that creative side comes out when I’m in the flow.

“Even this season, I feel like I’ve had many times where I’ve been in the flow, but the goals and assists just haven’t popped in yet. But they will. I think that’s kind of like what the season was like for a lot of the guys (at Leeds). It wasn’t just me.”

While Aaronson was never really producing great attacking numbers early on in the season, he was still contributing in matches with his dribbling and creativity.

However, that all just seemed to fall out of his game as the season went on, and come the end of the campaign, it was clear to see how much he was struggling.

At the same time, much of the blame has to fall at the door of Javi Gracia, he persistently handed him starts even when it clearly wasn’t working for the 23-year-old.