Mark McKenzie has enjoyed four productive seasons in Belgium, but the American defender reportedly looks set for a new opportunity in Turkey.
Trabzonspor is nearing a deal for McKenzie’s services, Turkish outlets Haber Anlik and 61 Medya reported Monday. McKenzie, whose current contract with Genk is set to expire in June 2025, is high on the list of Trabzonspor manager Abdullah Avcı.
The 25-year-old is currently on break after being with the U.S. men’s national team during the 2024 Copa America.
McKenzie made the move to Genk during the 2020-21 Pro League season after coming through the ranks with the Philadelphia Union. The Union homegrown centerback made 59 appearances in MLS, winning the Supporters’ Shield prior to his move abroad.
McKenzie has been a consistent starter with Genk over the past three seasons, logging a combined 127 appearances, scoring five goals. He won the Belgian Cup during his time in Genk, as well as increased his involvement with the USMNT.
McKenzie has earned 13 USMNT caps to date, being part of the CONCACAF Nations League-winning side in 2019-20.
After winning the Super Lig title in 2022, Trabzonspor finished sixth and third respectively in each of the last two seasons. They will be part of UEFA Europa League Qualifying later this summer.
I’ve also watched about half a dozen games from the Belgian league it is is very much like MLS level. I’d give Turkish league the nod over Belgian league due to the amount of washed up top end European players.
Here’s my eyeball test to gauge the quality of these leagues: number of passes connected under pressure, organization of play, quality of goal scoring chances created, individual skill of attackers, defending quality, goalkeeping quality.
When you watch the Euro leagues and then look at MLS, there’s almost no pressure on the attacker with the ball and it makes them look like a world beater. Let’s see how Acosta would deal with pressure if players hound him as soon as he receives the ball.
I think the J-League is one of the most underrated leagues in the world. They are very good (entertainment quality) in almost all categories except goalkeeping. MLS is better in that dept vs J-League.
i would like to see some americans try japan or australia as career choices. a-league used to be regularly shown here and i wish it came back. would like to see japan shown here. for that matter i’d like to see france on a better tv deal here. they are only top handful.
i was impressed by gamba osaka when they dismantled my dynamo like 15-20 years ago. i am impressed by celtic’s core of japanese and koreans.
we keep looking to europeans with strong development schemes instead of to countries that do more with less. but then i think it’s telling culturally how much of the fandom here is either england or mexico. are we imitating the teams that actually win stuff (france, spain, argentina) or are we imitating the TV-familiar.
@The Imperative Voice
J-League been on Youtube for free since last year. Before that, it wasn’t free in USA due to DAZN rights, but currently free. It’s great attacking team soccer (nice combo play etc) like Bundesliga without the physicality. Some of the goalkeeping is farcical :-), but I watch for attacking soccer, not goalkeeping.
I watched plenty of the Turkish league when Wright was playing. The level of play drops off massively from the top 4 teams. I wouldn’t rate it higher than the Belgian League.
Top MLS teams (LAFC, Columbus, Inter Miami full strength) is better than Belgian league. I’m sure they could beat Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Genk any day of the week, and could probably win that league outside of these 3.
It’s a big jump up. The Turkish league is probably the most underrated league in Europe. Galatasaray, Besiktas, and Fenerbahce all have payrolls north of €65 million, which would put them 10th (Galatasaray would be just in front of Everton!), 13th, and 14th in the EPL in terms of total payroll…meaning all three would be favored to stay up.
Trabzonspor is #4, though it’s a fair drop down. They “just” have a €35 million payroll, which would still put them ahead of every MLS team except Miami. It’s a massive jump up from Genk, which had a payroll of around €12 million – which would actually be slightly below average in MLS. Most teams in the Belgian First division are well below that.
Safe to say McKenzie may not be starting right away. But if he can make it at Trabzonspor, he can also almost certainly stick in a Top-5 league. So it’s a big, big opportunity for the guy.
the teams don’t necessarily pay those paper salaries on time or at all, and they don’t go as deep in UCL as they used to.
boyd also got caught up in some sort of foreign roster limit politics a few years back, like he wasn’t even registered.
historically the career theory for NT candidates was get cute the first 2 years of the cycle then make sure for the world cup you’re someplace happy and productive. add to that this will be a new coach who probably doesn’t care what GB thought of him and will need to be convinced anew. disappearing to the edge of the soccer universe right now, last 2 years of the cycle, to a country that doesn’t pay people what they say they do, to compete for playing time, is making a dumb career move and weaker case, not a better one, than being a solid starter in belgium.
i wouldn’t take more than lateral risks to a high exposure league if i was him. and if i took a risk and moved up it would be to a prominent league that pays their players and where a new coach might respect if the playing time doesn’t work out.
IV
“i wouldn’t take more than lateral risks to a high exposure league if i was him. and if i took a risk and moved up it would be to a prominent league that pays their players and where a new coach might respect if the playing time doesn’t work out.”
That’s because you’re risk averse. You think it’s better to be safe and mediocre ( a good description of a lot of the USMNT players) rather than take a risk and perhaps better yourself (and your bank balance) as a player.
“a solid starter in Belgium”
BFD. That did not overly impress Gregg. And may not impress the new boss either.
It certainly hasn’t impressed anyone at a “prominent league” enough for them to make a move for Mark. This may shock you but fringe USMNT players apparently are not in great demand at “prominent league” teams.
McKenzie had a fair amount of time with Gregg to make an impression. That time did not translate into anything better than fringe. I know, it was Gregg, but he wasn’t wrong about everyone.
Y’all seem to think that they new person will hate Gregg’s faves and love the guys on the bubble or outside the fringe. Don’t be so sure.
Any transfer is a risk. We are all very familiar with them. But there are also risks associated with NOT moving.
McKenzie is 25. IF any of this is true then a selling club like Genk may see this as a last chance to earn a nice profit on him. To put a positive spin on it, they might believe that Mark needs to be at a higher level to reach his full potential. So staying at Genk would be a Goldilocks move. Not too hot and not too cold but just right. For a year or two. Then they move in some younger players to give the kids a shot at developing.
Whether he is in Belgium or Turkey, Mark needs to get better as a player. The best way to do that is to fight for your place. Securing his place at Genk did not impress Gregg that much. I don’t see why it should impress the new person.
What I remember of Mark is that he’s made some howlers in possession, Gonzo disease. That’s about it.
If he stays at Genk , unless at the January window he suddenly has all the big clubs circling around for him, then I doubt he gets on the 2026 World Cup team.
He’s a 25 year old pro athlete with a very limited number of prime earning years left.
If he has a shot at significant pay increase, tougher more serious competition, developing his skills and impressing the new USMNT boss, Turkey might give him that chance.
That’s my take but it’s all up to Mark to decide what is an acceptable level of risk for him. HIs new club will definitely be a culture shock for him but right back Thomas Meunier late of Dortmund and PSG is Belgian and that may help .
Somehow I think that McKenzie and his agent would have a better idea of what’s in McKenzie’s best interest than any poster here. BTW, people may make decisions on the basis of things other than football for reasons that make good sense to them, but not to outsiders. I remember commentators talking about a possible move by a player from a London club to one in the “hinterlands.” They noted that teams in the lesser cities had trouble attracting some players because of the attraction of London. They mentioned how one player turned down a transfer because his wife refused to leave London because the shopping was so much better there.
all due respect to ripping me as risk averse, or saying his agent knows what he’s doing with his strange potential succession of genk then turkey, but the dude had just worked his way up to the edge of the NT under the old coach, in a league on the western edge of europe you can see on ESPN+, and we’re gonna move him out to hard-to-scout turkey chasing a dollar that often doesn’t show up on actual payday.
i think he’d established himself in belgium — and gained a foothold on the NT — and i’d either stay in country or if i feel compelled to move or chase dollars, go someplace fairly basic or even prestigious where they pay you on time. better belgian team, scotland, the championship, low level EPL, scandinavia, holland, low level B.1, B.2, low level serie A, serie B, spain. and most of them pay their players on time and are on US TV outlets where you can be scouted. and are on the western edge of the continent or the british isles for flights to come be seen.
i have no idea how you look at that landscape and instead say, haha, off to turkey i go. it’s a culturally cool place. it might be an interesting choice for a US starter who has millions in the bank and doesn’t live or die on does his paycheck show up on time.
is it the place to stage your campaign to even be included? chat with boyd about that. it’s like people forgot he existed.
IV,
“is it the place to stage your campaign to even be included?”
So now you decide where Americans should play to be scouted? So all of a sudden Turkey is some soccer backwater?
Are you saying you have more scouting resources than the “Prominent ” clubs? Mark is not moving to the Faroe Islands or Vietnam, you know.
“chat with boyd about that. it’s like people forgot he existed.”
There’s a reason for that. Boyd may not have been that good in the first place. I’m not sure he makes a good standard bearer for your anti-Turkey movement.
Reggie Cannon got shafted in a similar lack of payment deal and that was in Boavista, Portugal. Why are you not warning Americans of the dangers of playing in Portugal?
All transfers anywhere are a risk. But sometimes you have to take one if you want to rise out of mediocrity something you’re not interested in.
The USMNT is awash in softness and mediocrity. If Mark wants to stand out, he’s going to have to do more than he has been doing.
Mark is an adult and he should do what he thinks is best but life is not as fair or as risk free as you think it should be for pro soccer players.
i call bs. explain to me what’s so great about turkey. it’s an ok league with limited visibility to here outside of UCL group play, long plane trip to scout, reputation for not paying its players on time. you’re mocking me. you explain how this is smart and not just cutesy. as i pointed out, it’s literally down a rung on UEFA coefficient. so it can only be novelty or payday. and as i explained, they don’t necessarily pay. so is novelty worth the world cup roster spot risk when you currently are a tenuous incumbent?
what you’re not considering is this is not going to be the old coach and built up capital/rapport with him. it’s going to be a new selection from zero by whoever gets hired. they will pop their head up in september looking for CBs and be like, genk then turkey?
this will work out to benefit guys like trusty making boring basic decisions in familiar leagues the coach can watch on TV or send a scout to on a 6 hour flight.
duh, it’s his choice, always is, grown man, etc. i am just arguing what the better choices are. this is not one of them.
people routinely have fun at my expense for being a wet blanket, and then i prove fairly correct. or have we forgotten i told y’all this copa would be a lesson.
you can have your more optimistic ideas. they are also wrong. i’m trying to think of the last US player who did well by turkey. maybe haji wright and before him friedel in the 90s for 1 season. and even wright is back in england. ton of u-turn type stories where they head there then get the heck back out, edu, adu, aribiyi, jozy, mixx, jones, lichaj, yedlin.
common sense argues for places with more american success stories, no? right now, italy, germany, english 2nd? why be cute when your feet are barely on the rungs to stay in the USNT A squad with a new coach coming in? for a buck? that may not show up on payday?
ok, you can now say black is white. have at it.
IV
“i call bs. explain to me what’s so great about turkey. it’s an ok league with limited visibility to here outside of UCL group play, long plane trip to scout,”
It depends on where you start from. Not all scouts are from the US.
” reputation for not paying its players on time. you’re mocking me. you explain how this is smart and not just cutesy. as i pointed out, it’s literally down a rung on UEFA coefficient. so it can only be novelty or payday. and as i explained, they don’t necessarily pay. so is novelty worth the world cup roster spot risk when you currently are a tenuous incumbent?”
It’s up to big boy Mark to insure he gets paid. However, if it was as bad as you say, how does Turkey get any pro players to come over? Ever?
Mark isn’t thinking World Cup . He’s thinking “DAY JOB” “SMALL WINDOW TO EARN MAX REVENUE”. His WC chances are crap anyway, but this doesn’t kill them. If it all works out he can still go for a World Cup spot but have a lot more peace of mind knowing his funding is a little better.
“what you’re not considering is this is not going to be the old coach and built up capital/rapport with him. it’s going to be a new selection from zero by whoever gets hired. they will pop their head up in september looking for CBs and be like, genk then turkey? this will work out to benefit guys like trusty making boring basic decisions in familiar leagues the coach can watch on TV or send a scout to on a 6 hour flight”
So now you know who the next manager will be and how they think? Bullshit. What if the next manager is Turkish?
“duh, it’s his choice, always is, grown man, etc. i am just arguing what the better choices are. this is not one of them.”
How would you know what Mark’s best choices are?
“people routinely have fun at my expense for being a wet blanket, and then i prove fairly correct. or have we forgotten i told y’all this copa would be a lesson.”
You’re the only person on SBI who thought that “this copa would be a lesson.”? Really? You should stop making stuff up.
“you can have your more optimistic ideas. they are also wrong. i’m trying to think of the last US player who did well by turkey. maybe haji wright and before him friedel in the 90s for 1 season. and even wright is back in england.”
Those are two pretty important ones.
“ton of u-turn type stories where they head there then get the heck back” out, edu, adu, aribiyi, jozy, mixx, jones, lichaj, yedlin.”
Those guys went there when they were at the tail ends of their careers.
“common sense argues for places with more american success stories, no? right now, italy, germany, english 2nd?”
Sure if someone from there wants to give Mark a chance. If not then there is Turkey. You don’t go there and tell them to sign you. They have to come looking for you.. It doesn’t seem like Mark has done enough to get them to do that.
” why be cute when your feet are barely on the rungs to stay in the USNT A squad with a new coach coming in? for a buck? that may not show up on payday?” ok, you can now say black is white. have at it.”
Making malarky up is more your style.
I’ve seen the level of the Turkish league and it is very similar to Liga MX, but with more known washed out European players. The difference between the two is the finishing is a nod better in Turkish league vs Liga MX.
belgium is a top 15 league, so is turkey. so for that matter are MLS and MX. the people pimping turkey are exaggerating that it’s so much better — either than here or belgium — and the thing is, they have a reputation for not paying paychecks on time. on top of the league is harder to watch and scout compared to belgium on ESPN. so you are chasing a theoretical pay rise they may not pay, or at least pay on time, in exchange for lower visibility to the new NT coach and a lateral move on league quality.
i don’t see it as up. i see it as greedy and sideways.
Interesting. I haven’t watched a ton of the Turkish league beyond a few games Haj Wright was in a couple years ago. My own perception was that most of the league was MLS level, and the top teams were well ahead of that.
I have noticed, though, our perception of leagues tends to be overly colored by their best squads, and Turkey doesn’t have one of those €100+ million superclubs like AC Milan or Dortmund, much less those truly monstrous-spending clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern, and Man City, which spend more than €200+ million annually. If you look at just payroll – well, aside from Saudi Arabia, who massively overpay, like literally five or even ten times above reasonable market value in some cases – Turkey’s the #6 league in the world. And while they don’t have a monster superclub like PSG – which spends €300+ million a year and is typically the first-or-second-highest-spending team in the world = from teams 2-18 Turkey’s actually a hair ahead of Ligue 1. PSG drags the average of the French league way up.
And in terms of soccernomics, money usually does talk. Interestingly, the #7 league in terms of money is Brazil, #8 is the Championship…and #9 is MLS, which has edged ever-so-slightly ahead of Liga MX the last year or so, though the big three of Liga MX – Monterrey, America, Tigres – outspend any MLS squad except Miami.
yeah i call bs on the whole idea this is a step up rather than a money grab. not sure if many know it but UEFA has a coefficient they calculate, based on how leagues’ teams do in their competitions. the coefficient is used for seeding and allocating european spots per country.
belgium is 8, turkey is 9. technically it’s a step down in competitiveness in terms of UEFA league rank.
the leagues above belgium are england, italy, spain, germany, france, holland, portugal. you can match that up with my post above and i listed most of them.
people can mock me all they want. more of the teams in these other leagues pay their players on time. and there are plenty of “norwich” type straightforward destinations available. someone is getting too cute. i hope this is just to egg on his price auction.
and i’m gonna repeat myself. i know people are in a rush to forget every good lesson the old guard figured out, but if you want on the world cup at the end of the cycle the smart play is a stable club environment where you get plenty of PT and have made a rep. if he gets cute end of the cycle i am going to remind the risk takers what happened to pepi for signing in germany and struggling. it will be a new coach and they do not just hand out world cup slots.
IV,
“yeah i call bs on the whole idea this is a step up rather than a money grab.”
If it is just a money grab so what’s wrong with that? Mark is a professional and he’s supposed to make money. Odds are that no matter what Mark does, he’s not making the 2026 WC squad.
“people can mock me all they want. more of the teams in these other leagues pay their players on time. and there are plenty of “norwich” type straightforward destinations available. someone is getting too cute. i hope this is just to egg on his price auction.”
How are Mark’s business tactics any of our business? He’s not a high school, college or select team player. He’s a pro.
“and i’m gonna repeat myself. i know people are in a rush to forget every good lesson the old guard figured out, but if you want on the world cup at the end of the cycle the smart play is a stable club environment where you get plenty of PT and have made a rep.”
People have done that and still get left out. At least Pepi has his Augsburg money to console him.
“if he gets cute end of the cycle i am going to remind the risk takers what happened to pepi for signing in germany and struggling. it will be a new coach and they do not just hand out world cup slots.”
You paint with a very broad brush.
As for the Pepi example , very , very lame.
Just before Gregg left Pepi out Ricardo went on loan with Groningen where he scored or assisted on five goals in his first four games for them. I know you think scoring for your club is useless but Pepi had scored three goals for the USMNT in WC qualifying as well. And Ricardo’s goals were not 9 years before Gregg had to choose. In other words, it looked like Pepi was just starting to get hot, not a bad thing going into a tournament.
It looks like Pepi used Augsburg to tighten up his Dallas FC game since he’s done very well at Groningen and PSV since he left them.
The Pepi/Augsburg tale does not really hold up as cautionary.
MLS is better than the rest of the Turkish league outside of the big 4 (Galatasaray, Beskitas, Fenerbahce, Trabzonspor). That also holds true against the Belgian’s big 3 (Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Genk).
Helium-3
That’s why it’s always been about more about the club you are playing for not just the league.
In Europe many times it is just one or two dominant teams in a given league.
Auston Trusty started for Sheffield United for most of last season but isn’t generally though of as an EPL level player.
@Vacqui, true, he’s prone to mistakes. You can’t consistently make mistakes and play for Arsenal. Same with Turner, and it’s understandable why he’s not at Arsenal. Are they good enough to play in the EPL, yes, but not be a difference maker where you’re the best of the best.