Aaronson: Pulisic, McKennie and other USMNT stars are huge for young Americans moving to Europe

Brenden Aaronson says the examples set by the likes of Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie have been “huge” for him as he prepares to make the step from MLS to Europe.

The highly-rated 19-year-old midfielder is set to leave the Philadelphia Union in January, signing for Jesse Marsch’s Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.

With the likes of Pulisic, McKennie, Giovanni Reyna and Barcelona’s new signing Sergino Dest set to make an impact at the very highest level in the Champions League this season, young Americans like Aaronson have role models to look up to.

“It’s huge seeing them and it definitely gives you confidence as a player,” Aaronson told Sky Sports.

“It shows anything is possible when you come from the MLS and American soccer is definitely on the up.

“I actually met Pulisic in an October camp for the USA national team. He’s a fantastic guy and super down to earth. He’s very hardworking and you can just see in training how amazing this guy is. It was awesome to see him, Weston and all these other guys who are just top.

“I hope I’ll be able to be a part of it and that would be amazing but for now I just need to keep working hard to get into the Salzburg team.”

Aaronson is joining a Salzburg side which has proved a finishing school for some of the world’s top young talents in recent years.

Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are among the players to have made their mark there and, while he has admitted he would one day love to play for Liverpool in the Premier League, he believes he made the right decision when choosing his new club.

“I think it was around the MLS is Back tournament, a few big teams were interested in me at the time but Salzburg stood out because of how they play.

“It really benefits my game how they play, the formation, the coach. Everything stood out and made sense for me to make the move, it’s been a dream since I was young to play in Europe so I can’t wait to get started.”