FORMER Newcastle wonderkid Rolando Aarons is looking for a new club aged 29.
The winger has joined up with the PFA training squad in a bid to prove his fitness to potential suitors.
The squad also includes the likes of Ravel Morrison, while Angus Gunn has just signed for Nottingham Forest having joined up with the PFA earlier in the summer.
Aarons spent nine years on the books at Newcastle but only made 27 appearances before finally departing St James’ Park in 2021.
The Jamaican international has since had spells at Huddersfield and Motherwell, and most recently played for Celje in Slovenia last year.
Yesterday he impressed as the PFA training squad beat a Dutch equivalent XI 4-0 in Birmingham.
Aarons put his side 2-0 up on the day, skipping past a challenge and brilliantly prodding past the goalkeeper after being teed up by former Cambridge and Portsmouth ace Ben Stevenson.
He wasn’t done there, as he went on to set up ex-Hull star Adama Diomande for a tap in that made it 4-0.
Aarons’ display will surely have impressed clubs looking for a spark down the right wing.
The former Toon wonderkid suffered several injury issues during his time on Tyneside.
Having burst onto the scene early in the 2014-15 season, notably scoring and assisting during a match with Crystal Palace, Aarons was limited to just four Premier League appearances that year due to thigh and hamstring injuries.
The following campaign saw him then plagued by calf and ankle injuries, although he did score and assist in a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham on the final day, after Newcastle had already been relegated.
Aarons played in the first four matches of the subsequent Championship season, but was ruled out for the remainder of that campaign due to a metatarsal fracture and then ACL injury.
In a 2019 interview with The Athletic, Aarons revealed the psychological toll that his injury woes had on him.
He said: “I broke down a few times. During my first season, I called my mum and cried down the phone after my hamstring injuries.
“Then, after my ACL operation, I ran a bath and couldn’t physically get into the tub.
‘A DARK PLACE’
“I just wept, thinking, ‘I’m the most unlucky footballer in the world.’ I felt helpless.
“I got into a dark place, mentally. I didn’t know anyone else who’d been through that experience so I was trying to do it all myself.”
After struggling to cement a first team spot upon his return to fitness, Aarons embarked on several loan spells.
In the space of just two-and-a-half years, Aarons was sent to Hellas Verona, Slovan Liberec, Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe Wanderers and Motherwell.
Four years on, Aarons is looking for another chance to play the game he loves. Last week he wrote on Instagram: “Hard work and positivity always.”
Surely it is just a matter of time before a club takes a chance on the talented former Toon star.
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