Weston McKennie was on Aston Villa’s radar last summer and is reportedly back on their list again this summer.
Both Juventus and Aston Villa are in talks over a potential transfer of McKennie to the English Premier League side, Sky Sports reported Tuesday. The move would come as a separate deal following Douglas Luiz’s continued linking to Juventus, according to the report.
Samuel Iling-Junior is also on the Villains’ radar this summer as a potential replacement for Luiz. Aston Villa was among several clubs interested in McKennie’s services last summer before he ultimately stayed with Juventus for the 2023-24 season.
McKennie is heading into the final year of his contract in Turin and reportedly rejected Juventus’ latest extension offer back in April. Juventus offered McKennie a two-year extension at €2.5 million per year, but McKennie “was not satisfied” with the offer from the club.
The 25-year-old midfielder is coming off a productive campaign for the Old Lady, winning the Coppa Italia and helping Juventus finish in the top-four of Serie A. He registered 10 assists in 38 combined appearances, logging just under 3,000 minutes of playing time.
However, Juventus’ parting of manager Massimiliano Allegri opened the door for McKennie’s potential exit from the club.
McKennie is currently on international duty with the U.S. men’s national team. The USMNT faces Brazil on Wednesday in their final pre-Copa America friendly before the group stage begins.
The question is how much playing time he would get
Good. We can test the theory that the EPL hates American players. Whatever happens, we’ll have another data point on that for our discussions. So we have that at least.
If he can make a better paycheck and still get highly competitive football first in the EPL and additionally in the champions league, go for it.
Sucks you have to leave a legendary club like Juve, where the fans adore you, to join a mid-level PL club to make some more money. I get it but it still sucks.
Mid level???
There in the Champions League. They were in Europe last year. They have been upper half fairly consistently for some time now.
I know that but Juve is and always will be at a much higher echelon. And I like Emery and I think he will utilize him well. But we all know things can go south very quickly.
Juventus offered 2.5 million Euros? That’s chump change for a starter at a major club. He could probably get twice that much in MLS as a DP. You would think it just about a certainty that some other club would pay him more than what Juventus has offered.
Weah and Musah only make 2.7. Pulisic is 5.5. People think euro salaries are huge numbers but they’re usually not as big as you think. Now often there are add ons like housing or cars and such but not anywhere close to professional athletes in major sports here. Gio only makes 2.5. Pepi makes 2.5. It’s a low ball offer but not absurd.
That’s why players go to the EPL generally the salaries are higher than most of Europe. If Pulisic puts in another strong season with stats I’m sure that salary at Milan will go up.
Reminds me of something I saw many years ago. Ben Olson got an offer to go to England; can’t remember what club. Right away in training he had a major injury that almost ruined his career and he had to come back to MLS. When he was a relatively new coach at D.C. United a reporter asked him how he thought his life would be different if he hadn’t suffered that injury. He replied, “Well, I’d be driving a better car.” Even back then everyone in the EPL seemed to drive a Bentley. It still seems crazy that Wes makes so relatively little. Maybe that’s why the EPL: is considered the best league since thy pay the highest salaries.
Gary: he’d drive a nicer car if he was in MLS today though too, with Garber bucks. Richards makes 3.5 at Palace. That would pretty far down the list at Dortmund so level of club might factor in too. Looking at Villa’s salaries for this year Wes would probably make at least his current salary and certainly more than the 2.5 million offer. We’ll see what happens with negotiations now that Motta is in place.
JR,
From Capology
“Weston McKennie Salary Profile
Weston McKennie (Central Midfield) has 2 years and €6,420,000 gross salary remaining on his contract with Juventus (Serie A), expiring on Jun 30, 2025. Weston McKennie, who is 25 years old, will earn a gross base salary of €3,210,000 for the 2023-2024 Season, or €61,731 per week, not including bonuses. ”
$3,435,823.50
Weston is doing better than:
19. Diego Rossi
Columbus Crew
$3,376,827.00
but not
18. Walker Zimmerman
Nashville SC
$3,456,979.00
Villa want him , in part because it will ( no shock here) help them with marketing in the US of A.
Emery also wants him for the same reason Pirlo did, he’s aggressive and physical. And now he is quite experienced in Europe. Villa is going into the Champions League so he can help there.
It’s just a guess but at this point in his career I think Weston prefers Birmingham to Nashville.