Jesse Marsch says he ‘let down’ USMNT duo Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson after being sacked by Leeds - which club have since admitted was the wrong call

Speaking to The Telegraph, Marsch revealed that the Leeds hierarchy has admitted they removed him too soon from his position as manager in 2023. On top of that, the American says he was left with a feeling that he "let down" players, and was a primary reason why he didn't accept another managerial position immediately.

On being forced to leave the club shortly after convincing his fellow countrymen to join, Marsch explained: “I felt bad. That I was letting them down, that I was abandoning them. Time has helped but that was my initial reaction."

"We [Leeds] went from mid-table in every metric to 20th across the board [after Marsch left]. Every meaningful metric they went dead last," the American continued. "The conversations I had with certain people in the leadership group – they were apologetic they abandoned the [Marsch] project. There wasn’t any real dialogue about the decision it was just – ‘This is the decision’. Which they have the right to make … but if we had more time to talk about it and [I could] walk [them] through it, I could have shown more details on how and why this is moving in the right direction. And that abandoning the project at that time was not the right thing to do.”

Marsch was sacked in February 2023, when Leeds were sitting 17th in the Premier League. However, since their dooming relegation at the end of the Premier League campaign, his words suggest that Leeds representatives have realized they made a mistake in moving too soon on his removal - with the club going through two more managers after the American before the end of the season.

For Marsch, it's a 'what could have been' moment,' leaving him with the feeling that he let down the USMNT players he convinced to join his project.

Marsch is currently a free agent, and will likely be a coach to watch for vacancies come 2024. Adams, meanwhile, is sidelined with an injury until March at the earliest, making just one appearance for new club Bournemouth in 2023/24. Aaronson, however, is struggling the most out of the group - on loan at Union Berlin where he lost his starting role and is seemingly on the outs.