Rolando Aarons (born 16 November 1995) is a Jamaican professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a winger for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

and the Jamaica national team. He has had previous loan spells with

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. Hi ...

in Italy,

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domestic c ...

in the Czech Republic and Scottish club

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

, and in England with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

Club career

Newcastle United

Aarons joined Newcastle United in 2012 after being released by his home town club Bristol City. He made his reserve team debut on 8 February 2013 against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

and scored in his second reserve game against Crystal Palace 17 days later. Aarons travelled with the Newcastle squad to their game against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

. He was not included in the matchday squad as the Magpies lost 1–0. Reserves teammate

Ľubomír Šatka Ľubomír Šatka (; born 2 December 1995) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ekstraklasa club Lech Poznań and the Slovakia national team. Club career Early career Šatka was born in Ilava, Trenčín Region. A ...

also travelled with the squad for the first time. On 1 April 2014, Aarons signed a professional contract with Newcastle United.

2014–15 season

Aarons had an impressive pre-season prior to the 2014–15 season, scoring one goal and creating one assist in the

2014 Schalke 04 Cup The 2014 Schalke 04 Cup was a two-day pre-season men's football friendly tournament that was hosted by Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and was held at the Veltins-Arena, the club's home ground. 2014 was the inaugural competition of the Schalke 04 Cup. ...

against

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

team Schalke. Shortly after, he was allocated the number 16 shirt. On 17 August 2014, he made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut in their first match of the campaign, replacing

Yoan Gouffran Yoan Patrick Gouffran (born 25 May 1986) is a former French professional footballer, who played as a striker or a winger and was renowned for his pace and ability to finish with either foot. Club career Gouffran was born in Villeneuve-Saint-G ...

for the final 16 minutes of a 2–0 home defeat to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

. He scored his first senior goal in the 3–3 draw with Crystal Palace on 30 August. He also set up teammate Mike Williamson for Newcastle's third goal in the same match, striking the post with his own effort. His contribution to the match was described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' as "thrillingly incisive". Aarons came back from England U20 duty with a hamstring injury; scans in mid-September determined that it would take around six weeks for the injury to heal. On 29 October, Aarons returned from injury to score his second goal for the club in the fourth round of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, opening the scoring in Newcastle's 2–0 away victory over holders

. In early November, Aarons suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury, ruling him out for another month.

Loans

In 2018, Aarons spent time out on loan with

under

Fabio Pecchia Fabio Pecchia (; born 24 August 1973) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is head coach of club Parma. Throughout his playing career as a midfielder, he was also known as "l'avvocato" ("the lawyer," in Italian), ...

, Benítez's former assistant at Newcastle, and

. After 13 appearances in all competitions for the Czech side, he returned to Newcastle in December 2018. On 31 January 2019, deadline day for the winter transfer window, he signed for

on loan until the end of the season. Aarons signed for

on 2 September 2019 on a short-term loan. The loan spell came to an end on 12 January 2020. On 31 January 2020, Aarons moved on loan to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club

for the remainder of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

. But on 31 May 2020 Aarons's loan spell ended with the Scottish outfit.

Huddersfield Town

On 7 January 2021, Aarons signed for

on a two and a half year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for the club two days later in a 3–2

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

Third Round loss to

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

, coming off the substitutes' bench to replace Pat Jones. A week later, he made his

debut for Huddersfield, playing 62 minutes in a 2–1 defeat to

Watford Watford () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...

, before being replaced by Jones.

Motherwell (loan)

On 30 August 2022, Aarons returned to Motherwell on loan having spent time with the club in 2020. On 2 November 2022, his loan was cancelled due to injury.

International career

Aarons is eligible to represent either

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

at international level. In August 2014, he received his first call-up to the England U20 team, marking his debut with the opening goal in a 6–0 friendly match win over

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

on 5 September. His club manager Alan Pardew confirmed that, despite interest from Jamaica, he intended to pursue an international future within the England set-up. In May 2022, he received his first call-up to the Jamaica squad for their CONCACAF Nations League fixtures against

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

and

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. He would make his debut as a substitute against Suriname on 7 June 2022 at Kingston National Stadium.

Style of play

Aarons operates on the outside of midfield or as a winger, usually on the left side. He is left-footed and known for his injections of pace and technical ability. He has been compared to Chelsea winger

Raheem Sterling Raheem Shaquille Sterling (born 8 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for club Chelsea. Born in Jamaica, he represents the England national team. Born in Jamaica to Jamaican parents, S ...

in his playing style and in his descent; both are Jamaican-born English players.

Personal life

Aarons was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and migrated to England at the age of five to join his mother, who was living in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

. He is the cousin of Norwich City player

Max Aarons Maximillian James Aarons (born 4 January 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Norwich City. He is primarily a right-back, but can also play as a left-back. Club career Aarons began his career at Luto ...

Career statistics

Club

International

''As of 15 June 2022.''

References

External links

Newcastle United F.C. profile

Rolando Aarons profile
at the Football Association * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aarons, Rolando 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica English footballers England youth international footballers Jamaican footballers English sportspeople of Jamaican descent Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Bristol City F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Hellas Verona F.C. players FC Slovan Liberec players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Serie A players Scottish Professional Football League players Association football midfielders Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Black British sportsmen Czech First League players