Where it all started to go wrong for Rolando Aarons at Newcastle United

The winger this week joined belatedly joined Huddersfield Town on a permanent deal ahead of the expiry of his contract in the summer.

Aarons, above all else, just needs to play – and he’ll get games at the Championship club.

But think back to the summer of 2014 – and what looked to be the start of a promising career at United.

Aarons announced himself at Newcastle with a stunning goal against Schalke 04 in a pre-season tournament at the Veltins Arena.

The teenager broke down the left and floated a cross-cum-shot over goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann and into the far corner of the net. Aarons – who had looked up before delivering the ball – insisted that he had meant after a 3-1 win for United.

“The real highlight of pre-season has been Rolando,” then-manager Alan Pardew told the Gazette at the time. “He was terrific again. It’s nice to see a young player really pushing, and I thought he caused real problems for Schalke – long may that continue.”

Later that month Aarons scored on what was only his second Premier League appearances – he came off the bench and netted against Crystal Palace – and he followed up that strike with a League Cup goal against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium later in the year.

The only way looked to be up for Aarons, but those heady few months turned out to be the highpoint of a career at St James’s Park that would go on to be blighted by a series of hamstring injuries, a contract dispute and other issues.

Aarons had joined the club in 2012 after leaving Bristol City. It was a fresh start for Aarons, who was born in Jamaica and moved to England aged five.

The move away from Bristol worked for Aarons, who applied himself at the Academy and caught the attention of Pardew.

By the end of 2014, Aarons – who represented England at Under-20 level – had turned down a new contract at the club.

“He’s a young player who has a contract here, and we’re trying to negotiate with his team,” said Pardew at the time. “Somewhere along the line, I do think some sense will come into those negotiations.”

Aarons’ representatives were asking for too much money a player who had only made a handful of first-team appearances – and the club was offering him too little. It was an unwelcome distraction for a player who needed to focus on overcoming a series of injuries.

Eventually, a compromise was agreed after Rafa Benitez’s arrival at the club in 2016.

Aarons – who was given a suspended 10-month prison sentence in 2018 after pleading guilty to affray following an incident at a city bar two years earlier – didn’t go on to make too many appearances under Benitez, and a large part of that five-year deal was spent away on loan.

It’s a shame Aarons, now 25, never got to fulfil his potential at Newcastle.

And his story is a warning to young players of the challenges that face them, both on and off the pitch, after they make their first-team debuts.

As for Aarons, let’s hope he can kick-start a once-promising career at Huddersfield.

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