I've wondered about this in the past. It seems like Berlin should have a major club. It's obviously one of the great cities of Europe along with Paris, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, Milan, etc., but Hertha was never close to as good as the big clubs from those cities. So, it seems like there could be an opportunity there for McKennie to be part of their rise to contender status. I'd say a club like Everton would be a good fit, but we know that Everton will pretty much never qualify for the UCL. Maybe Hertha is on their way to becoming a perennial qualifier for Europe.
McKennie now has interest from Liverpool, in addition to Newcastle, Everton, and Hertha. https://www.fotmob.com/embed/news/6634986-Liverpool-Step-Up-Scouting-of-Schalke-Star-Weston-McKennie
Imagine Pulisic at Chelsea and McKennie at Liverpool. Kind of would kill the narrative about Americans not being good at soccer. I think then other players that shine would get more eyeballs.
Dest of course has PSG, Bayern, and Barca. I guess the dream situation would be McKennie('pool), Dest(PSG), Richards(Bayern), Weah(Lille), Adams(Leipzig), Reyna(Dortmund), Steffen(ManCity) Maybe AC Milan or another solid team comes in for Jedi Robinson, if he continues to maintain his C'ship form.
Of all the suitors for Dest, (and this sounds insane and surreal to type out), PSG would be the least desirable imo. Crazy list regardless when you list them all like that. Good times.
I wanted a team different from Richards's and Barca are in a bit of turmoil. Throw Cannon in there with Freiburg.
I don't know about McKennie to Liverpool. Is Wijnaldum leaving? What I worry about is what happens to talented players that sign for clubs like that. Like say Marko Grujic. He didn't really get a chance there.................. Where was he on loan this season? You guessed it: Hertha Berlin. In my head I don't put McKennie in the same category as Pulisic. Even though he's young, Pulisic is so polished. He was so ready to be a star player at a club like Chelsea with little additional development required. I don't think of McKennie that way. I think of McKennie as requiring more seasoning. I'd like a year or two more in Germany at a club in a better position than Schalke. Heck, I like the Bundesliga more than the Premier League anyway.
There are three FCD academy kids to really watch this summer in the transfer market: Richards, Cannon, and McKennie. Ironically, McKennie spent much longer in the FCD academy than the other two...............but we think of him as having the least connection to the club. The next FCD academy player to keep an eye on is Chris Cappis at relegation threatened Hobro. Are they safe? I haven't checked. Either way, it wouldn't stun me if he moves this window too. We also have to keep an eye on Shaq Moore, who folks forget was at the FCD academy. Surely he'll move. Once those five are taken care of, we'll think about the transfer of Pomykal this January...................... By the way, former FCD homegrown signing and US youth international Alex Zendejas just signed for Necaxa in Mexico. ¡Atención, Rayos! 🚨Alejandro Zendejas se une a nuestra escuadra de cara al #Apertura2020. ¡Bienvenido, @AlexZendejas8!#FuerzaRayos ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/qK0Yjo1Bz7— ⚡️Club Necaxa⚡️ (@ClubNecaxa) June 26, 2020
Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson will be thirty soon, and Milner is like 35. The articles I see list McKennie as a "long term" option to keep Liverpool going rather than someone coming in and starting next year. I agree that he's not ready to step into Liverpool. But perhaps it would help him make the next step to be under Klopp and those players.
I think Wijnaldum is actually out of contract right? Although they're negotiating. Adam Lallana is also most assuredly leaving. I don't like the whole "long term option" classification. This is what premier league clubs say when they sign players like Miazga, Palmer-Brown, Steffen, etc. It means they're gonna sign them and loan them out. That's not what I want.
I mean, I have no insight into Liverpool. But I expect Klopp operates differently -- if McKennie went there, I'd imagine he'd be a backup until he earned a spot. I don't think Liverpool really does the loan army thing.
Guys, take a closer look at the website where that Liverpool rumor originally appeared. It's one of those "citizen journalism" sites full of content created by unpaid nobodies looking for clicks. The author of the piece has written over 4k articles (mostly paraphrased summaries of work done by real journalists) in 2 years and has a twitter following of fewer than 200. He doesn't have any inside sources and only wrote this because he knew gullible US fans would lap it up.
Don't think anyone would expect McKennie to start upon his arrival at Liverpool. Haven't found any more news on Aaron Long's transfer situation.
Liverpool's interest in McKennie actually goes back further. Reminds of the idiocy of those gainsaying Milan's interest in Robinson. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8218671/liverpool-transfer-news-weston-mckennie-schalke/
Klopf has a Jesus complex so don't be surprised if he buys McKennie. Once you've succeeded at something like Klopf has at Pool, it's time to give it all away.
I'm guessing you don't just mean that in the obvious sense of not assuming that a transfer will happen until it actually happens. If you're saying you shouldn't even assume there's any interest just because there's a transfer rumor, I think that's fair to some degree -- since even the more legitimate sources may themselves be relying on a mix of 3rd party sources that they can't independently verify. However, I do think that for at least some outlets you can say there's a good (if not perfect) chance that there's actual interest if they're reporting on it; and if you have enough of those types of outlets reporting something, then there very likely is some clear interest. In the UK that would include the BBC, the Telegraph, the Guardian, and SkySports. In Germany that would include Bild, Sport1, and Kicker.
It's a year and a half old and in the Sun but that's the kind of stuff at least worth mentioning here (unlike "citizen journalism" from the likes of 90min.com). Now Sun journos are incredibly ethically challenged and everything they write should be taken with a few grains of salt, but they have sources and occasionally get shit right. Of course I'd be certain to add a word like alleged/purported/supposed before discussing any transfer interest reported in that paper because, as those who are familiar with how tabloids like the Sun operate would tell you, it could very well be fantasy.