A former Wycombe Wanderers loanee is hoping to reach the Champions League group stage with his current club in Slovenia.
Rolando Aarons, who played 13 times and scored twice for the Chairboys during the 2019/20 season, now plays for NK Celje in the Slovenian PrvaLiga.
He moved to the Balkans country at the beginning of this year following his release from Huddersfield Town at the back end of 2023, and has so far scored one league goal in 12 league appearances for his new side.
Since his move across Europe, the 28-year-old helped Celje secure their respective league title for only the second time since 1991.
This triumph made them the only team in Slovenia to make the qualifying rounds of the Champions League.
His side easily brushed aside Flora of Estonia 7-1 on aggregate earlier on this month, with Aarons being one of the goal scorers.
They then faced Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia this week, which finished 1-1.
The return leg will be played on July 30.
Aarons, who was born in Jamaica but moved to England as a child, began his career at Bristol City where he spent three years in the youth team before being released in 2012.
He then spent nine years at Newcastle United but only played 27 times and scored four goals – one of which was in a Premier League thriller against Crystal Palace, which finished 3-3 in August 2014.
His time at St James’ Park was filled with numerous loan spells to various teams across the continent.
The two-capped Jamaican international spent time at Hellas Verona in Italy, Sloan Liberec in the Czech Republic, Motherwell in Scotland, along with two EFL moves to Sheffield Wednesday, and of course, Wycombe.
His stint at Adams Park was deemed relatively successful, as his winning strike against Shrewsbury Town in November 2019 in a 1-0 victory played a pivotal role in Wanderers' promotion that season.
That win was one of many that helped Wycombe gain a better average through the points-per-game system, as the Chairboys moved from eighth to third at the end of the 2019/20 campaign.
This was after the Covid-19 pandemic caused huge disruption across the footballing pyramid, which forced the League One season to end, excluding the play-offs.
Aarons would eventually depart Newcastle permanently in January 2021 for Huddersfield Town, but his time in Yorkshire was a disaster.
He only played 11 times across two-and-a-half-years and after a loan move back to Motherwell didn’t work out, he eventually left the ex-Premier League side in the autumn of 2023.
He would remain unattached for several months before joining Celje, where he has revitalised his career.
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