Jesse Marsch was hoping to add a spark in his midfield at Leeds United this winter and the American manager believes he has found it in the form of a compatriot.
Weston McKennie arrived on loan earlier this week from Serie A side Juventus, embarking on a new chapter of his club career. The U.S. men’s national team midfielder joins up with international teammates Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson at Elland Road, fighting to help the Lilywhites avoid relegation from the English Premier League.
Marsch never worked with McKennie previously despite having familiarity with both Adams and Aaronson in their past stops in Germany and Austria respectively, but is confident the 24-year-old will be a great acquisition for Leeds United.
“What I heard about Weston was ‘great guy, a great team-mate, a competitor, confident’,” Marsch said in his pre-match press conference. “When I spoke to him, I learned that he was hungry, had a desire to improve and a belief that he has done well in his career but has so much more to achieve and learn.
“When I combined all that with watching him over the years, signing Weston became a no-brainer and I felt he was the perfect guy for us,” Marsch added. “It’s a transfer we should be proud of as Leeds United because bringing in a player like him, from Juventus, is a tribute to us as a club.”
McKennie had been on the radar of several EPL clubs over the past year, including Tottenham, Aston Villa, and Southampton, but settled on Leeds United as the next chapter of his club career. After originally breaking on the scene with Bundesliga club Schalke, McKennie moved to Juventus and proceeded to lift two domestic trophies and total over 90 appearances for the Old Lady.
Marsch will hope that McKennie can hit the ground running for Leeds United, starting with Sunday’s bottom-half clash with Nottingham Forest before back-to-back meetings with Manchester United.
“Appendicitis”?! Whaaa … ? _Who_ had appendicitis?
We may well imagine that it was quite a jolt for McKennie to come in, play for a few minutes, and then see the coach fired who hired him.
But if someone was being hospitalized on top of that, surely there would have been some mention of it in the press?
Or if not, why not?
What’s the deal with these throwaway comments?
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I was mistaken it wasn’t Romano it was Tom Bogert who reported this. Tom generally reports on MLS and would certainly have contacts that know Brenden well. Not sure why the team didn’t release the information themselves.
Seemed reasonable given Wes just got there but playing him instead of Rocca next to Adams, puts him too far from the attack or forces Adams to be a creator. Aka makes both worse. Slide Gnoto or Sinisterra to forward for Bamford and push Wes to an attacking role.
Hard to see Leeds staying up at this point.
Will be a bit awful to see Adams and Aaronson in the Championship next season. But hey this is what happens when you go to a team that is going to be a relegation battle team. Marsch needs to get this team scoring goals again.
Fabrizio Romano reporting he had appendicitis this week which was why he wasn’t in any of the Weston welcome videos. It was a surprise he was even on the bench.
Disappointing result against Forest. Is Aaronson hurt? Seems like they could have used him down a goal.
No he isn’t hurt. Just isn’t producing enough in the final third. Saw his benching coming.
Weston’s signing doesn’t change that Bamford sucks
This is win-win for McKennie and Leeds. He plays lights out for Leeds and Leeds goes down then other teams will be in for him in the summer. If he plays well and helps keep Leeds up then Leeds has the option to buy.
Agree. Getting up early tomorrow morning to watch Leeds!
And while Juvy is historically a top team, the recent scandal makes their future uncertain. I think he is wise to leave them for the EPL, even to a team in the bottom half.