Weston McKennie is very much a midfielder, but had the look of a striker in scoring his fifth Serie A goal of the season on Sunday.
The U.S. Men’s National Team star came off the bench to help Juventus seal a 3-1 victory over Genoa on Sunday.
McKennie entered the match in the 68th minute and needed just two minutes to provide an insurance goal for Juventus, beating Genoa’s offside trap before calmly finishing his sixth goal in all competitions.
Weston McKennie scores his 5th Serie A goal of the season 🤩 pic.twitter.com/n3Ci2pSxc8
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 11, 2021
The goal extended McKennie’s Serie A record for most goals by a USMNT player, and also extended his personal record for most goals in a season.
McKennie and Juventus return to action on April 18 against Atalanta in a key clash with major implications in the race to finish in Serie A’s top four.
Another good showing by a USMNT player. McKennie showing that he too is continuing to perform at a high/consistent level…while Pulisic & Reyna are returning to the form that had them the talk of their leagues.
Looking forwards to what these kids can do together with the USMNT once they build a little more chemistry and gain some more experience.
Bryan Reynolds started for Roma today as well, by the way. He looked a bit tentative and it seemed like his teammates were playing around him, but he wasn’t bad by any means.
I don’t think Reynolds was put on their Europa League roster so he’s probably getting some squad rotation minutes since he couldn’t play midweek last week or this week. Looking at their schedule they have two games a week the next couple weeks even if they drop the series with Ajax so he should get some more opportunities.
Throw in Real and Barca. Love Atletico. Assume with your handle a DCU fan. Let’s hope Losada will make the team worth watching.
Being a Napoli fan yes Juve fans are arrogant and borderline racist. Hard to root for Juve only interested in McKennies game. Same as Chelsea have always disliked their owner and buy a championship mentality a mid mash of like talent that currently ignores needs of back four.
Oh, a lot of the racism I’ve seen has been overt. Anti-American nonsense, too, like, “No American will ever deserve to wear the Juve shirt.” Sure, guys.
Maybe he’ll end up in the Premier League in a year or two. The Italians can turn up their nose at anyone who isn’t Pirlo, but the English would love his game.
I’ve made the mistake of spending some time on Juventus forums and Juve fans have impressed me as some of the most coarse, entitled, arrogant, cynical snobs on the planet. Many are convinced he’ll be sold in the summer (“good riddance!”) to make room for a “real midfield” despite having been arguably their best midfield player this season. Those who want to keep him think he’d make a “decent squad player”.
It can be frustrating to love and player and hate the club they play for.
I’ve always rooted against Juve and Bayern simply because it’s boring for the same team to keep winning the league by buying their competitors’ best players. So happy he’s doing well, and yet I’m happy another team gets to break the nine-year stranglehold on Serie A
The tifosibianconeri forum in Italian is definitely full of this talk of Wes being sold in the summer of late. They are a fickle lot to be sure. Curious to see what happens. There was a lot of nattering on and about their midfield in general.
The arguments for selling are probably a) his performance will command a very health profit from what they paid for him and there is no guarantee he keeps his price up b) while having been a good player this year he isn’t the most elite of elite who will help you win the champions league which is what Juve fans want.
For keeping him, a) clearly fits what pirlo is asking him to do b) this is his first year in the league and he is young enough you expect he would improve c) assuming continued form and health, you’d think his transfer value would peak after the upcoming WC.
I tend to think that just about covers it. Juve are in line for a major overhaul, and although McKennie has been the least of their problems since he’s arrived, a Premier League suitor with a ~£30 million bid would probably look pretty good to them.
It would just seem strange after having just joined and exceeded everybody’s expectations for him to move on so quickly. I suppose it also bears considering who would be in the frame for him in the EPL as they would have to pay a considerable amount for his services. Everton? Spurs? Leicester? West Ham? Villa? I’m not sure any of them would be able or willing to splash out that kind of cash on anything less than a sure thing.