Mike Grella thinks Leeds playmaker isn’t good enough for Premier League | OneFootball

Leeds can now start to think about life back in the Premier League after securing promotion from the Championship on Monday, with the big focus now being on getting Daniel Farke’s squad ready for the big step up.

Clubs coming up from the Championship have found it very difficult to compete in the Premier League in recent season, so Leeds will hope that they can manage to succeed where the likes of Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich have failed. But in order to do this, they will need to significant strengthen.

And according to one former player, Leeds would be wise to sign a new attacking midfielder to replace current starter Brendan Aaronson.

Mike Grella believes Brendan Aaronson isn’t PL quality

Brendan Aaronson has nine goals and two assists for Leeds in the Championship this season (Photo by Simon Barber/Getty Images)

Speaking on CBS Sports (via LeedsUnited.News) after Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League was confirmed, Mike Grella spoke on Aaronson, whom he doubts has the quality to compete as a starter in the first team next season.

“For me, I think they have a lot of depth in the behind-the-striker position: so they’ve got Solomon, Ramazani, Gnonto, Aaronson, Daniel James, and they’re almost all the same player, and I think Aaronson is sort of, like, fitting in that no.10 position, but not truly a no.10. I think he can fit in one of the outside positions.

“If you’re going to play that way, maybe someone with a different skillset in that no.10 position that plays behind Piroe. A proper no.10 that will create numerical advantages that maybe he could add a little bit more to goal-scoring. I know Aaronson had a very good season goal-scoring wise, but playing also in a team that scores the most goals in the league, so that’s the position I would look to strengthen.”

It remains to be seen whether Leeds take Grella’s advice. They were linked to Edouard Spertsyan earlier in 2025, and he could be the man that takes over from Aaronson from next season.