Weston McKennie is officially heading to Italy for the upcoming season.
Juventus announced on Saturday the completion of a loan move for the U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder until June 2021 from Bundesliga side Schalke. The Serie A side will pay Schalke roughly $5.3 million for McKennie’s services for the 2020-21′ season.
There is also an option to permanently buy McKennie at the end of his loan for roughly $22 million.
McKennie had been linked with a move away from Gelsenkirchen this summer with Hertha Berlin, Southampton and Newcastle United all being in the mix at one point. Juventus came into the race late for McKennie, but it didn’t stop the defending Serie A winners for acquiring him ahead of this season.
The 21-year-old has risen through the ranks at Schalke after joining from FC Dallas’ Academy in 2016. McKennie has made 91 first-team appearances to date, scoring five goals and registering seven assists.
He was a key performer in David Wagner’s squad this past Bundesliga season, scoring three goals in 32 appearances. The box-to-box midfielder showed off his versatility, also featuring as a defender in several matches for Schalke.
McKennie’s move to Juventus makes him the first American player to do so in club history. He will look to jump right into Andrea Pirlo’s plans this season with Juventus looking to repeat as Serie A winners and bounce back from a quarterfinal exit in the UEFA Champions League.
Serie A play begins on the weekend of Sept. 19th.
Maybe now I’ll be able to stay awake through an entire Serie A match
Can’t wait to watch this unfold. The technical, defensive savvy he will pick up in Serie A, w/ Pirlo in addition to his physicality and work-rate has potential to become something special. Soooooo hope he finds his way.
He has only 3 weeks until the season starts,so don’t expect him to start right away. It could be that he only sees the field as a late sub for several months, but it’s no reason for fans to get worried.I think he has enough ability that Juve will make the loan permanent. Whether or not he becomes a regular starter will probably be up to how hard he works. Remember that Giovinco was only a bench warmer at Juve and he was pretty darn good. Good luck to him.
Your probably right, but Juve has been on vacation since the season ended Aug 7. Pirlo just held his first training session this week. Wes has been participating with Schalke for almost a month although has been limited in friendlies. Depends a lot on how quickly the old guard is moved out.
The other thing is getting to know his teammates and learning how Pirlo wants to play. It also may take Pirlo a while to decide where to put Wes on the field.
He’s about the first team CM they’ll have this week according to Khedira, Ramsey, and Bentancur are all doing individual training and Pjanic is quarantining after a positive COVID test. Rabiot will be gone on international duty along with Ronaldo, Kulusevski, and Bernadeschi. That’s good for learning from Pirlo but not so good meshing with teammates. If you listened to the podcast Ives seems to think Wes is Pirlo’s guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wes starts week one but then is more a bench guy as the season progresses given the short turn around for Juve players especially the Europeans who have NL next weekend.
Wow that first line made no sense.
—————————
He’ll be about the only CM at training this week according to the club website.
Other reports say the loan becomes permanent if juve qualify for champions league.