CHESTER, Pa. – The sprint for the World Cup is here, and for members of the United States men’s national team, it means that players are ensuring that they’re in the best positions possible to make Maurico Pochettino’s squad. Midfielder Paxten Aaronson has made it clear that he believes that place is sticking at Eintracht Frankfurt this coming season after a successful loan spell with FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie. Now back with Frankfurt and in the midst of preseason preparation, Aaronson got the chance to have a full circle moment facing a familiar opponent in the Philadelphia Union, his boyhood club.

“I think that if I want to have a chance of getting on that [World Cup squad], I don’t think there’s any better club to be a part of than here at Eintracht. I think when you look at what they’ve done business-wise in terms of developing young players, that’s one thing that attracted me when I first came to the club,” Aaronson said. “How well they’ve done at developing young guys and the time that they’ve put in. So I have no doubt that along with the coach and everybody that they’re fully on board in terms of development and the things that I need to work on.”

This is why the Bundesliga became a regular place for American soccer players to move abroad. The care put into development and ensuring that players are not only getting playing time but also regular pointers on what needs to be done to improve is critical to success, and it’s showing with Aaronson. He has now gone on loan twice from the club, but after racking up 12 goals and assists while helping Utrecht qualify for European soccer, the next step in his career would be to step into a team competing in the Champions League.

Luckily, he doesn’t have to travel far to accomplish that, with Frankfurt finishing in third place last season in the Bundesliga. They’ll be in the League Phase and hope to make noise. Manager Dino Toppenmöller will need all the bodies that he can get in the XI, and that’s something that Aaronson will be able to provide due to his versatility on the pitch.

“Paxten is a player who feels very comfortable to be in the center of the game. He has very good game activity, and against Louisville, he was always available…