Corriere dello Sport say there's no update on Rabiot and McKennie's negotiations, but that Alcaraz is likely to return to Southampton due to their promotion.
and Charly Alcaraz wasn't particularly good either...or that his redemption cost was like $40m! hahah What a weird loan.
Not sure I understand why Alcaraz was playing other than what was previously mentioned, that his loan contract may have had some minimum minutes amount.... No way he deserved minutes on form. He was terrible.
TuttoJuve claim that if Mckennie and Juve can't come to an agreement, Juve will be looking for €20m - €25m and that Aston Villa, Everton, and Newcastle are the most interested PL clubs tracking him in him. The other papers mention that Mckennie isn't backing down from his salary demands, and Juve aren't backing down from their desire to reel-in wages. Most importantly, Gazzetta notes that Frattesi's OTHER sister (not the model one Wes was maybe dating) posted some cryptic IG story then quickly deleted it and unfollowed Weston... now the model sister is on vacation alone and so the paper speculates that it's OVER between her and Weston (no, they do not note that Wes has NT duty...)
I am not keen on seeing McKennie move to the EPL. I think the more languid pace of Serie A suits him well. The EPL is too frenetic for him.
I concur. Honestly Juventus just needs to pony up for him and get him to sign for several more years. If Weston leaves, it needs to be to La Liga not the EPL.
...I don't know... If the primary defining quality of the EPL were 'frenetic,' we'd all think Aaronson had the highest possible ceiling there... probably followed closely by McKennie, right? Maybe I'm just selectively remembering his game from long ago, but... 'frenetic' might have been one of McKennie's qualities. That said, I think I agree with you both - I like that Italy has forced him to learn to play the slow game (more tactically?). I think it will help him with whatever team he ends up at next. I wouldn't mind seeing him in the EPL again either. Easy to watch, and I also think his game could fit there (especially with a team that is a bit better than Leeds). ...maybe I'm just prone to being fooled twice, but I don't believe he got a fair shake in the EPL last time.
I just don't think Weston was really *that* bad at Leeds. He wasn't good, but then again, no one on that Leeds side was good after Tyler got injured. Leeds fans did a bang-up job pushing the narrative that Weston was "historically bad" and the media didn't bother pushing back. On the one hand, I get it... how do you write an article like "Weston Mckennie was actually average despite Leeds having their 2nd worst season in all history"? But I watched most of Weston's 19 PL appearances at Leeds, and I genuinely thought he was "fine" considering the 10 teammates around him. The rest of the midfield (minus Tyler) had some of their worst seasons to date as well... Meanwhile, Leeds fans liked to use stats like this to "prove" that Weston was historically bad, or something: Weston McKennie leaves Leeds having ended on the losing side in 13 of his 20 appearances, a 65% defeat percentage which is the worst of any outfield player to have played at least 20 times in the club's history (all 458 of them). #lufc pic.twitter.com/IOmvbzcy50— Jonny Cooper (@JRCooper26) May 29, 2023 If statisticians could be sued for malpractice, this could warrant it... I hope for my sanity's sake that his bio claiming that he works for OPTA is a lie.
On the right team, McKennie will suit the EPL fine. Wes does not really play a conventional position and if you buy him and think he's going to be a prototypical British wide midfielder or Libero DCM or some conventional Italian deep-lying playmaker, you'll be disappointed (but it's on you as they have, you invented tape.) But if you want a B2B disruptive player who can unbalance a midfield through physical exertion and a combination of very decent skill-sets, Wes can add a bit of "je ne sais quoi", to quote the Italians, to the game.
Leeds was a disaster. Wes is actually pretty well suited for the Prem. I frankly don't know what some of you are watching. The situation at Leeds doesn't detract from Wes's profile as a player.
They were a dumpster fire led by in hindsight a painfully naive tactical manager and then a panicked replacement. Weston had little if anything to do with their struggles. It was the technical director, Jesse, and then his replacement, forget his name.
Jessie was a bit unlucky; he lost a number of close games where his teams blew easy scoring opportunities. I recall his XG stats would have put Leeds pretty safely out of the relegation zone. But that may be a rosy false memory.
yea they got unlucky perhaps but I also recall some high school level marking at times from their defense. seems I've blotted out of a lot of that shit from my mind as I think I watched 90% of the games before Jesse was fired and quite a few after that.
yeah, it was chaotic times for sure. still bummed it didn't work out. it was awesome having 3 USMNT starters (at the time) and an american coach on one squad.
They were fine. It was missed penalties, strikers playing thru balls for the other team, crazy goal keeper blunders, and missed clear cut chances. Honestly with Adams healthy and a striker they finish 12-14. If they had a Chris wood type striker that is. Wes wasn’t good at Leeds at looked slow while he looks quick in Italy. But it’s a massive difference playing with the Juve players vs most of Serie a as opposed to playing with the Leeds players against the premier league.
Did all three ever play for Marsch or was he fired before McKennie ever played a game? Anyway I think McKennie was working his way back into shape from injury, Marsch was fired when he got there, Adams was injured soon after and McKennie had neither Adams behind him, the coach who wanted him and who he wanted to play for and found himself playing deeper than where he plays best. All in all almost anything bad that could happen did. What a nightmare.
I mostly agree, but Weston’s occasionally loose touch could end up being a bigger problem in a league where defenders stick a lot closer all over the field than they do in Italy.
That’s true, but it’s also true that Marsch’s inflexibility was really extreme. Just speaking for myself, that inflexibility really soured me on him as a USMNT candidate. Now, if he hadn’t been so unlucky in XG maybe the team would have retained confidence in his tactics…we can always go further down the hypothetical rabbit hole.
https://www.transfermarkt.us/nottingham-forest_leeds-united/index/spielbericht/3838779 Only game McKennie played under Marsch. He came off the bench and played 33 minutes, Adams played 90, Aaronson was on the bench and didn't play. Marsch was fired the next day.
That was also the match where Aaronson was a surprise inclusion because he had just had an appendectomy the week before, iirc