You’re absolutely right, the father of a player tweeting that his son is too big for a club that is currently negotiating the possibility of paying him 25-30 million will have no potential affect on his media coverage, the expectations from said media and die-hard fans, nor the fellow players in his locker room that may catch wind of it. Nothing to see here! I’m sure it will totally endear him and his dad to everyone at the club and get things started on the right foot.
Was Raphina too good for Leeds? If he is, that's a good thing. He should be one of the best players on the field every game, help Leeds stay up, show that it's not a fluke next year while helping Leeds to solid mid-table, and then move to a bigger club.
Weston McKennie to Leeds, here we go! Understand Leeds will pay €1.2m loan fee — deal will include buy option clause for €33m plus add ons 🚨⚪️🇺🇸 #LUFCLeeds president Radrizzani unlocked the deal with Juventus in the night.McKennie has agreed personal terms with Leeds. pic.twitter.com/mY1g6Fuql0— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 28, 2023
Good for Wes. He gets to play in the top league for a club that’s investing. Honestly these criticisms of Wes are boring. So many unproven players get sold for huge numbers. People drool over Musah but it’s Wes and Tyler who were the class against England’s midfield. It’s Wes who German and Italian managers have continued to trust in some of the biggest matches in Europe, and shown he belongs. Football fans can be so strange - do you just constantly want the shiny “high potential” players? Do we just think all these people who have rated Wes are stupid?
Not sure if any of these players are great comparisons to McKennie. In the first place, Aouar has never played anywhere other than Lyon, he's been there since he was a kid. Gueye and Torreira had much more impressive profiles and each were coming off multiple considerably better seasons than McKennie when they made their big money moves. I suppose Allan in some ways is the closest comparison of the names you mentioned. But even then he'd had more impressive seasons in Italy than McKennie before his move to Everton (a move which ended up being, if not a flop, certainly a disappointment from Everton's perspective). As for McKennie, he's a hard working fairly versatile midfielder who can score the occasional goal but as far as I'm concerned no part of his game is elite and at ~$30M I'd like a player to do something at an elite (or close to elite) level. I wouldn't pay much more than ~$20M for him. For comparison purposes, Fulham are reportedly close to signing Torino's Sasa Lukic, who grades out roughly comparably to Weston, for ~$10-$12M. He is a bit older and has a year less left on his contract so you'd expect Weston to cost more, but 3 times as much???
no one cares about dad unless he’s your agent. And dollars for donuts dad will still take the keys to the cayenne Wes gets him for his birthday.
With this McKennie's stay in Serie A has drawn to an end. The similarities to Michael Bradley's stay in the league are striking. They have a nearly identical number of appearances, 70 for McKennie and 76 for Bradley, in two and a half seasons. McKennie won the Coppa Italia, Bradley made the final. Both were hit by ill-timed injuries as well. Plenty of differences also. McKennie scored more goals due to being better on set pieces, while also playing further forward positionally than Bradley. McKennie jumped in immediately with Juventus, while Bradley had to start at Chievo and then move upwards to Roma. And McKennie got the opportunity to play in Champions League, though each season has ended in disappointment.
Purchase "option"?!?! That should be an obligation if X amount of minutes, relegation avoidance, or something to that effect. Otherwise I don't get the point. They should have sold him outright for a little less to Arsenal or whoever (that's what I wish would have happened). If this is a straight loan w/ a buy option, this is at least a triple from Leeds' perspective, because they get a quality player w/ no risk attached. Even if it's someone who they maybe didn't need as much as a LB, CF, CB, etc. I don't really like this from Wes' standpoint. He had opportunities to compete for titles and European inter-league play, while playing a significant role in those things. I suppose since it's a loan, he's not going down with them. They wouldn't buy for 30+ and keep him in the Championship.
What an interesting career. He was going to go to college but signed for Schalke, a big club with a lot of history and became arguably one of their stars in his last season there despite their fall from grace and then goes to Juventus unexpectedly and was a starter (when not injured) and surprised a lot of folks. Now heading to the Premier League
Oh right I remember he was a star at Chievo after having left the Bundesliga (just like Wes would do a decade later). It's a shame he didn't stick around Roma a bit longer.
🚨 Weston McKennie from Juventus to Leeds on loan with option to buy now verbally agreed. Personal terms also in place. 24yo USA midfielder in Turin, should arrive tomorrow to complete move. Looks too late for rivals:https://t.co/GN3oai2t49@TheAthleticFC #LUFC #Juventus #Juve https://t.co/utrq4ADyGO— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) January 28, 2023 Forest tried a late hijack
Here We Go. I have been following Leeds SM, blogs and vlogs. The longtime fans are uneasy about the American invasion, but to varying degrees. The tweet last week mocking a clip of Jesse for making exactly the same tactical point Pep said a while earlier is illustrative of the more anti-American segment. But others appreciate the 49ers takeover and the need for more $. Almost all love Tyler but have skepticism about Jesse. They aren’t terribly realistic about comparing Marsch and Bielsa, or about what level of performance is realistic this year. They think of their extended absence from the PL as some sort of blip, as if Chelsea had gone down and was now back. But look at the ages and performance of the new faces. Orta and Jesse have them on the right track. If they can shore up 5e back line even a little in the summer they will be strong. And I expect Wes is going to make a positive difference. If they stay up, they will not be worrying about relegation next year. They will eventually warm up to Jesse, I think.
I’ll let you have it, as now we enter the subjective part of the discussion that will likely move us away from Wes in comparing players. You asked and I provided though. Just felt they each have similar profiles and I don’t think Wes is behind any of them at all. Fanboi over here though haha. Thanks for the discussion! I’m super stoked for Wes! Very anxious to see how his game translates to the EPL. I think he’ll be a much better fit in the league and so glad he gets to challenge himself there over going back to the BL. Curious to see how Marsch deploys him. Almost assuredly more advanced, yes? Whose spot will he be potentially taking?
I for one am super excited to see Wes join Jesse's fitness camp - soccer team. This should be a lot of fun, and he can work off some of that pasta. Maybe US Soccer can save some money and do a joint appointment with Leeds? Of course, Leeds probably should be spending that money on someone who can help their horrid defense, but hey, adding another high-energy monster in the midfield should make for good viewing. Yeah, that's a fun comparison. Certainly our two best Serie A careers so far, by far, though I think you're short-changing Wes a little bit. Wes has been a regular starter on a Champion's League team that won some hardware. If Mike hadn't gotten hurt at Roma, who knows what would've happened - but unfortunately he did, and he was never the same. This is not to knock Mike's time in Italy, because it was pretty great and unprecedented, but we've had very, very few players who've been starters on top Champion's League teams. Man were we spoiled the magical year of Dest, Wes, Puli (and Gio and Tyler to some extent I guess) all playing game in and game out for some of the best clubs in the world.
Aaronson was too expensive to drop. Remember he was most expensive transfer in LEEDS history. If he doesn't play his value drops off a cliff
I wonder if Jesse puts him on the right at RB or to Tyler's right and his job is to cover the entire right side of the pitch .. that could help their D and their O ... improving their GD is what will enable them to stay up.
Really smart deal on all sides. Jive gets to shed some salary and make a little money in a season where they’re not gonna qualify for Europe and won’t get relegated. Leeds gets mckennie now and aren’t stuck with him and his salary/transfer fee if they get relegated. Mckennie gets to show himself in the prem for half a season in the event Leeds dont stay up. And if they survive…Weston Adams and aaronson all on one team going into the copa America and the World Cup….good shit.