Bozdogan actually has 236 minutes of BuLi experience having started in 3 of the last matches we played last season. Many fans are saying that Bozdogan's is this season's version McKennie's breakout first year!. The consensus is that Bozdogan's initial BuLi minutes were more impressive than Weston initial time on the first team pitch. Our supporters seem resigned to Weston leaving, especially if we can get 25MM+ for him. Nobody wants to lose Serdar, Harit, or Kabak who are our best players and would likely command significantly higher transfer fees. Spurs and Athletico have supposedly tendered 10MM+ offers for Bozdogan but have been rebuffed!
THIS! Can people make the jump from MLS to the Premier League and do well? Sure. But a lot of our players are just skipping MLS now and when we are talking about their moves at 18-23 it's with much more match AND European training experience than before. Hell even the two that you mentioned (Jozy and Bradley) are different contexts. La Liga (Jozy) has shown no ability to develop an American prospect that spent all or most formative years in America at all. Konrad won't count because he has only developed in Spain. And Bradley was a loan, which is basically perform or die. McKennie has 75 appearances at the Bundesliga level. When Clint Dempsey was the same age he was debuting in the MLS. When Donovan was the same age he had less appearances at the MLS level. Like McKennie or not, that youth combined with experience is going to make teams value him differently. But it will also make a transfer much more of a sure bet. Fulham's transfer of Frank-Andre Zambo Anguissa is a name that keeps on popping in my head when thinking of McKennie. A lot of Marseille fans thought they robbed Fulham (and to be honest it was a good deal of business). He was a year older than McKennie is now. Had played 79 Ligue 1 games to McKennie's 75 Bundesliga ones. Went to Fulham for about 25-30 million. Two years later? He's being linked with a shock Real Madrid move which probably won't happen, but he had an amazing season at Villareal this year. If Fulham can win this week, keeping him and fitting him into Parker's system could be the difference between staying up or going down. I watched a lot of FAZA last year with Fulham. I think McKennie at two years younger is better than he was that year.
Phrasing... Here's some simple French to make your girl wild: Ton tonton tond ton thon! Try it. You never know what will happen!
from goal.com Saints lead chase for McKennie 1 hour ago12:30 Southampton are the frontrunners to sign Schalke midfielder Weston McKennie, though they will have to sell Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg first - according to the Express. Hojbjerg is widely expected to leave St Mary's this summer after refusing to sign a contract extension, with Tottenham and Everton competing for his signature. Should the Denmark international move on then McKennie is seen as his natural replacement, with Ralph Hasenhuttl hopeful of persuading the United States international to join the club ahead of Leicester, Wolves, Newcastle and Everton.
I've actually said that to her once before, just by accident. She tried to make me sit down and rest.
Does not look happy to me. He is in the back looking like he is allergic to sunlight and wondering how as a german International nobody, not even his childhood club, will pony up 6MM to buy him since Schalke and especially Wagner does not want him? You are talking about Rudy, right? We all know that Wes is in England getting ready to sign a contract with {pick your EPL club}.
I do think it's interesting and potentially enlightening that he was not selected as a model for the new kit. Iffin there is a better spokesmodel/pitchman/example for your club than McKennie, I don't know one.
More news for those wishing a Weston move. Bentaleb is scheduled to rejoin Schalke on August 12. The calculus is still the same, if Bentaleb and Rudy are not moved we will have to sell someone!
In terms of the financial muscle of Schalke, Bentaleb is a much better fit for them than Weston. Bentaleb is as good as they should be able to afford, which is one of the worst 6's I've seen in a good long while. Weston should be playing for someone with much more financial clout.
Schalke are planning to use the sale of midfielder Weston McKennie to fund the next few transactions made this summer. At the moment, this will go towards the signing of Alexander Schwolow and a striker, as well as extending with Benjamin Stambouli. [waz,🥈] #S04 pic.twitter.com/o2spHbYXMV— Schalke Daily (@S04Daily) August 3, 2020
That makes zero sense. We bought Bentaleb from Spurs 3 years ago for almost 20MM and he is on almost 5MM per. We bought Rudy from Bayern 2 years ago for 19MM and he is on 4.5MM per. Wes is on < 2MM per and we got him on a free transfer. It is very basic math.
yeah I think he’s saying more from Weston fan view I.e he expects schalke to be no good and thinks Weston can go to a better team Where as he thinks bentaleb is no good and should be on a team like schalke. your math is very clear. If I’m schalke I’m shopping all my assets to try to get rid of those two but also maximize the return on one of the higher value players like you’ve said (weston, kabak, other person you always mention haha)
What happened to Bentaleb by the way? I remember him being a highly touted prospect and seemed to be a solid player for Schalke early but sounds like he has become a bit of an albotross
Yeah I worded that badly, and I wasn't aware of how much Bentaleb was making. I was trying to suggest that from a talent standpoint and what he should be making versus Weston's talent level and what he should be making, Bentaleb should be with Schalke with Weston moving to a better performing club. In summary, I am not a writer, and I think Bentaleb is awful and Wes is good.
Maybe as one American leaves another joins the 04? A Nick Taitague sighting training with the first team 🇺🇸👋 pic.twitter.com/7VssM5TVBz— Schalke 04 USA🇺🇸 (@s04_us) August 3, 2020
Bentaleb is a very good player and most Schalke supporters believe that at 25 he is overall clearly currently a better player than Weston. He was fantastic his first year with us and even though he was injured for his second season was a big part of why we finished in 2nd place in the BuLi his 2nd year. Ironically, Bentaleb's injury is what opened the door for McKennie receiving significant playing time in Wes' first season. Bentaleb clashed with Tedesco the disastrous following year. Unfairly or not, Bentaleb has since been labeled a "head case" and essentially been shut out of the squad. Things did not improve under Wagner, part of the issue stems from fitness/work rate demands along with both coaches wanting more of a disciplined,defensive role closer to a #6 instead of a more free #8.
Schalke fans can't evaluate talent for shit then. He basically hasn't put in a good performance in 18 months then, is what you're saying.
I get it. Bentaleb just finished a loan at Newcastle where he had 15 appearances (11 starts) across all competitions. The reports are that Newcastle is interested but wnat to lower the fee (10MM) and salary demands. The 3 EPL clubs that are interested and where Wes could get significant PT are 11) Southhampton, 12) Everton, 13) Newcastle. Schalke after tieing Dortmund for 4th the first half of last season finished 12th after losing 6 to 7 starters the 2nd half of the season. I don't believe that those 3 EPL clubs are better performing than Schalke but I am biased.
It's not the fans that are the real problem. Schalke paid more than $20 million for Bentaleb who they apparently can't sell for half that. They paid over $17 million for Rudy the same year they lost Goretzka on a free transfer. Now they're reportedly desperate to get Rudy's €6 million salary off the books. They bought Embolo for almost $30 million and sold him three years later for just over $12 million. (All figures from Transfermarkt)
Bentaleb's "headcase" is what got him the boot from Tottenham. There's a reason they sold him so it's not a surprise he clashed with another manager. He's got talent, there's no denying that, but he's selfish and a bad teammate.
Dotson (Minny) would be interesting at Schalke. Caliguri seemed to have lost some sparkle last year but I suspect it may be Wagner's system that clipped his performance.
More Schalke news that may affect Weston. We just re-signed Stambouli (29yo) to a 3 year contract. Vice captain, proven starting CB and DM, and very well liked and respected by the team and fans. 2 ways to look at this signing. On one hand it should make a McKennie departure easier on the club because there is competent backup for roles played by Weston. The other side of the coin is we are keeping the squad from last year together. With everyone available we were a UCL team the first half of the season.