Weston McKennie is flying high to start 2026.
McKennie scored his second goal of the new year on Monday in Juventus’ 5-0 Serie A romp over Cremonese. The U.S. men’s national team midfielder now has four goals overall this season and six goal contributions since December 1.
Gleison Bremer and Jonathan David gave the Bianconeri a fast 2-0 lead, with the duo scoring three minutes apart in the opening 15 minutes of the match.
Kenan Yildiz extended the hosts lead to 3-0 in the 35th minute before McKennie had a say in the final two goals of the match.
McKennie raced his way into the box after 48 minutes before his tap-in effort deflected in off of Cremonese defender Filippo Terracciano for a 4-0 Juventus lead.
Although McKennie wasn’t credited earlier in the second half, he did head home Pierre Kalulu’s cross 16 minutes later for Juventus’ fifth and final goal of the match. It marked the 27-year-old’s 22nd-career goal for the Bianconeri in all competitions.
McKennie logged the full 90 minutes in the match, helping Juventus jump up to fourth place in the Serie A table. He earned Player of the Match honors for his latest impactful showing in the squad.
Luciano Spalletti’s squad are now unbeaten in their last seven matches overall heading into next weekend’s trip to Cagliari. Benfica, Napoli, and AS Monaco also await this month as Juventus has two different competitions to look forward to.
“Report Milan and Roma eye McKennie on a free transfer as Juventus look to Cristante”
Let’s goooooooooo, AC Milan!!!!!!
What’s fascinating here is McKennie has gotten moved up to RW…actually, in this one, he was playing LW in a 4-2-3-1. Juve’s manager Luciano Spalleti is doing some really fascinating stuff, playing much more proactively and positive, to counter the trend towards man-oriented defending and pressing all over the field, especially triggering on backpasses that are standard fare for maintaining possession.
McKennie’s always been a chaos merchant who sees it and reacts faster than anybody else on the field and who seems to thrive on situations where he can freelance and improvise and go off-book…and he’s clearly made for what Spalletti’s doing right now. It’s when you ask him to be utterly disciplined and assignment-perfect that he starts to struggle.
I’m actually wondering how this translates to the USMNT. Maybe pretty well. The thing about International-level soccer is, the teams don’t get a ton of time together and you’re not going to see elaborate, precision passing patterns or highly complex tactics, and it often does seem that the teams that improvise the best and sort of play in the moment are the ones that thrive. And McKennie is a guy you can drop in at least a half-dozen places on the field. It might be one of those things: we’re bringing you, no idea where you start, but it’s going to be SOMEWHERE, and even if you don’t start, expect to be the first one off the bench.
We seem to be moving to a 3-4-2-1 as our base formation these days. I sort of had it in my head the three attackers were Pulisic and Tillman playing under Balogun up top and Luna and either Aaronson or Zendejas backing them up, but McKennie’s making a real case for one of those spots at the moment. Which is a good problem to have. I definitely think we’re bringing at least 8 attackers – 3 strikers, 5 wingers, minium – in a 26-man roster, and at least 9 if the rumors are true and teams go to 30 for the WC (which I would strongly advocate due to the heat and massive demands on pro players these days), so it might be we don’t really have to make hard choices in terms of roster cuts. Ideally, we can just bring all of them and see where they are in terms of form and fit for the tactics we want to employ on the day.
This also almost certainly means Weah will be a wingback this World Cup. Again, these are called “Uptown problems”.
Spalletti wants to get the same 3-2-4-1 in the attacking third as Poch. The attackers will drop into midfield and then someone like Wes fills that space. It’s pretty similar to what Poch has been trying to do with the US (remember Pulisic dropping into MF vs Japan). If you remember Wes was the RM vs Ecuador, usually tucking central with Weah playing wider. Juve under Spalletti is so much more appealing to watch than Allegri ball.
F@#& Juventus!!! They do not appreciate this kid and what he brings to the table / Team. McKennie is part of the battery that powers Juventus and is as versatile as they come in the Serie A. Season after season, he has to fight for a spot at Juve, and is literally pushed out the door (Parking spot taken, locker taken), only for him to claw his way back AND BECOME AN IMPACT PLAYER FOR THE TEAM.
Dušan Vlahović
€425,000 a week / €22.2m a year
Jonathan David
€215,000 a week / €11.2m a year
Gleison Bremer
€177,000 a week / €9.2m a year
Loïs Openda
€148,000 a week / €7.7m a year
Manuel Locatelli
€117,000 a week / €6.1m a year
Teun Koopmeiners
€110,000 a week / €5.8m a year
Edon Zhegrova
€88,500 a week / €4.6m a year
Francisco Conceição
€88,500 a week / €4.6m a year
Khéphren Thuram
€88,500 a week / €4.6m a year
Federico Gatti
€88,500 a week / €4.6m a year
Andrea Cambiaso
€86,500 a week / €4.5m a year
Pierre Kalulu
€85,000 a week / €4.4m a year
Daniele Rugani
€71,200 a week / €3.7m a year
João Mário
€71,200 a week / €3.7m a year
Michele Di Gregorio
€72,000 a week / €3.7m a year
Weston McKennie
€63,000 a week / €3.3m a year
They do not value Mckennie as they do not think he is worth an extra $600,000 a year. Well, I say F@#& Juventus…..find a team that will appreciate your dedication, hard work and unwavering commitment, especially since the ball is in your court and you get to leave ON A FREE TRANSFER.
Bizzy, that list of figures says it all. McKennie plays every minute of every game (Serie A, UCL), plays multiple positions, and consistently is one of the best performers on the pitch. It looks like it may be time to test free agency in the summer window.
“McKennie plays every minute of every game (Serie A, UCL), plays multiple positions, and consistently is one of the best performers on the pitch”
Exactly PN!!!! Yet Juventus DO NOT MIND PAYING Jonathan David €215,000 a week / €11.2m a year BUT CANNOT GIVE MCKENNIE EVEN €3.8M A YEAR!!!!
Yeah F@#& them, it’s time to go…….
“McKennie plays every minute of every game (Serie A, UCL), plays multiple positions, and consistently is one of the best performers on the pitch”
Exactly PN!!!! Yet Juventus DO NOT MIND PAYING Jonathan David €215,000 a week / €11.2m a year BUT CANNOT GIVE MCKENNIE EVEN €3.8M A YEAR!!!!
Yeah F@#& them, it’s time to go…….
“McKennie plays every minute of every game (Serie A, UCL), plays multiple positions, and consistently is one of the best performers on the pitch”
Exactly PN!!!! Yet Juventus DO NOT MIND PAYING Jonathan David €215,000 a week / €11.2m a year BUT CANNOT GIVE MCKENNIE EVEN €3.8M A YEAR!!!!
Yeah F@#& them, it’s time to go…….
OOOOOkay ……lol
Bizzy, David had 109g 30a in 5 seasons at Lille, the market set his contract price. Yes, he’s struggled at Juve, but you don’t get to adjust a contract 4 months in. As for Vlahovic, Juve has been trying to dump his salary for years as well. He was signed after scoring 20g in 24 appearances the first half of 21/22 so his salary price is based on that. Look at the careers of those players you listed almost all had a huge year or two and got a big contract out of it. Weston has never had more than 10 goal contributions. The market sets his price based on his production, if he continues to be this hot his next club will pay him more because he’s contributing to goals.
Johnnyrazor,
Every player on the team is an avenue to score and get points……but when you look at the players individually Weston McKennie’s IS NOT AT JUVE TO SPECIFICALLY SCORE GOALS. The value he brings is his versatility hence the nickname “the everyman for Juve”. McKennie can play AND EXCEL at multiple positions IN A FIRST DIVISION LEAGUE LIKE SERIE A and has done so time and time again. From pushing him out to him becoming at intricate part of the team, year after year.
On what planet is David worth almost 4 x that of McKennie???? No way, and Jonathan David may have had 109g 30a in 5 seasons at Lille (French Ligue 1), NOT SERIE A. If they are willing to pay him 215,000 a week how about a proven player that busts his butt week in week out AND ACTUALLY WANTS TO PLAY FOR JUVE
Johnnyrazor,
FYI
Jonathan David’s sole purpose is to score goals
he has 5 goals and 3 assists in 26 games played
McKennie’s role is more central but plays in multiple positions
he has 4 goals and 2 assist in 26 games played (hence started almost every game for Juventus – one of the most)
For €63,000 a week / €3.3m a year?????……..F@#& that!!!!!
I’m not saying Wes isn’t important, but what he does doesn’t get big contracts that’s just facts. Utility men in baseball aren’t the highest paid players nor are long relievers that start from time to time, the 3 and D player in the NBA gets the medium salary, the nickel corner special team guy in college football doesn’t get the big nil contract. It’s just what it is. Antonee Robinson is the 13th highest paid player for Fulham because he’s a FB. Strikers, wingers, and #10s get the big contracts because they score and assist on the goals.
I think i9t was about 2 and 1/2 years ago that Juve was talking about dumping
Wes and then didn’t play him much at the start of the season. As I pointed out at that time, Dempsey was often unappreciated whenever there was a managerial change. There is such a push on analytics which focus on only certain things that players like Wes often don’t get the appreciation they deserve. How do you measure someone who can play multiple positions? Then they often overlook things like interceptions, passes completed, etc. and all those little things that can really help a team without showing up in the post game statistics. I would hope Wes’ agent can get him the contract hew deserves.
GaryPage;
Juve has talked about dumping Weston almost every year of his contract. He is put in the shopping window so often he is practically a mannequin during the off season.
To All: I don’t think that it is just Juve who underestimates and values Weston. I think it is the European market in general. Unfortunatley, I still think it is – at least in part – because he is an american. Any US player has to prove, re-prove, and prove himself again compared to next best prospect from croatia or france or portugal.
Juve still thinks itself a super team, so they are active pretty much every window. You can’t buy every window and never sell it’s just math.
———————-
How many players from Wes’s first season are still there? In Dec of 2020 Wes went 90 mins vs Barcelona in CL and scored a goal. Only Pinsoglio and Wes are still with Juventus from that day. Carlo Pinsoglio has 112 minutes in Wes’s time at Juve as their 3rd string keeper. From 2021 vs Chelsea there’s only 5 still with the team Wes, Locatelli, the two backup keepers, and Ragani a reserve CB (only Chalobah and James remain for Chelsea)
————————
Maybe they don’t value Wes what he’s worth but no one else has stepped in to make a better offer. If you look on transfer market the interest is from Turkey. Also they’ve had no trouble moving on from Italians, Argentines, Brazilians, Poles, or Frenchman at Juventus in the last few seasons.
Gary and MidwestRef,m
“Any US player has to prove, re-prove, and prove himself again compared to next best prospect from croatia or france or portugal.”
This is nonsense.
What makes you think Croatians, the French or the Portuguese players don’t have to prove themselves to the new guy everytime one of the rotating cast of managers at Juve ( almost one every year) shows up for the first time.?
Juve has dumped a veritable cornucopia of player nationalities since Weston got there. Show me one guy who was there when Weston first showed up that is still with the club and still as important a part of it as he is?
The proof is in the pudding. Since he’s been there, fuck all the noise, the fact is Weston has played a ton of games for Juve so they seem to be perfect willing to tolerate him being Born in the USA.
Do you suppose they got rid of Weah because he was a New Yorker or because he either cost too much or just didn’t fit what they wanted?
I see that Richards, CP, Scally, Morris, Wright, Pepi, Malik, Dest, Jedi, Pepi, BA and others don’t seem to be held back by being American.
Don’t kid yourself,:
+ the first thing the teams look for is can you do the business for them
+ the second thing they look for is can they get someone to do the same thing cheaper. In case you don’tthink that money matters, BA , who has recovered well, probably got a second chance with Leeds because they had sunk so much money into him that they had to give him a shot.
Your passport is a bit further back in the pack along with things like are you a dick?
Juve is not one of the elite anymore but they think they are. So they are constantly mixing and matching players and managers hoping to find something that will stick to the wall.
Nonesense they ruled the first goal an own goal. Thats going over the line even if the defender doesn’t get a touch. It was literally on the line before the defender touched it.
All deflections should be ruled own goals now then.
Definitely in the best form of his career right now.
I find it hard to believe Juventus isn’t aggressively negotiating with McKennie’s agent on a contract extension. Week after week he continues to be one of the best players for Juventus, playing multiple positions and basically going the distance every game. Is any US player right now having a more impressive season?
MAYBE 🤔 CP10 … but Wes is on a whole new level right now. His name is in pen on the managers line up. That’s about the best anyone can ask for.
“I find it hard to believe Juventus isn’t aggressively negotiating with McKennie’s agent on a contract extension.”
Why? Maybe they are. I would guess that the people at Juve know the real Weston better than anybody here. He’s been there since 2021.
I would point out that nobody here knows.
Also;
Weston is 27, how long can he keep this up?
Weston is allegedly not a fitness freak. How much do you trust Weston to dedicate himself to consistent performance? I guess we’ll find out.
“Is any US player right now having a more impressive season?”
CP’s season is more impressive. But that is irrelevant. You could argue that our two Americans are the best players in Serie A at the moment and might have been for some time now.