SQUAD

“ If you can afford it — and we don’t have to do the turnaround in the squad that we’ve had to do — if you ask me what I want, it’s 22 outfield players and three goalkeepers.”

Mikel Arteta

May 14, 1998/Stoke-on-Trent

“ He has been really, really good and probably against the odds because when you look at his past and where he was coming from, he got relegated twice, it was difficult to imagine it.

“ But we saw he had that character, charisma, and personality to play for our club and he had the potential qualities to feed into our way of playing.

“ When you see the development he had the past two seasons, I think he is exceptional.

“ When we played against him and obviously I watched him a lot and that presence and that energy he had, I thought this is the one.

Very highly regarded throughout the early part of his career, Aaron made the switch from Sheffield United – the club at which he started his pro career – making his debut aged 18 in 2016.

“ He has no fear, he was just looking at the challenge ahead of him and that is what you want. ”