There are few surprises when Weston McKennie’s name is one of the starters for Juventus on any given matchday, demonstrating impressive toughness in a season of change. The midfielder has had to navigate not one, but two managerial changes for club and country over the summer months, as well as adjustments to his role on the pitch, with some challenges easier than others. However, 26-year-old McKennie has approached every situation with a newfound confidence, one that comes with age and almost a decade of experience in Europe’s top leagues.
“I feel like I’m a type of player that can adapt to a lot of different things throughout my career,” McKennie said in an interview with CBS Sports.
The past few months provide just one example of McKennie’s durability. He was deemed surplus to requirements when Thiago Motta took over as Juventus manager this summer and was ruled out of pre-season training as the search for a new club began. However, at the end of August he had a new contract with Juventus and has now played 19 games for the Italian team this season. McKennie was able to complete the turnaround in part because he had gone through the same thing a year earlier with Motta’s predecessor, Massimiliano Allegri, and had built a body of work that he could cite to his advantage when necessary.
“Honestly, it didn’t really affect me that much this summer because I know what kind of season I had,” McKennie said. “For me, in terms of numbers and statistics, I feel that I was at least the two best midfielders at Juventus last season, and that’s not in an arrogant way or anything. Those are just facts, when you take them out want to get.” That being said, I didn’t feel any way, because I knew I had a great season and I felt comfortable with it, and I was happy with it, and that’s what ultimately matters to me.”
For Juventus’ Allegri last season, McKennie showed a versatility that can only strengthen a player’s motivation to stay in any team. The midfielder prefers to play as a number 8 but was deployed as a right wing-back last season and reprized Motta’s role in a 2-1 win over Monza on Sunday, albeit on the left. Sunday’s game came with the added bonus of scored the opening goal of the matchbut the success on the wings was a reminder of his training in the academy and Schalke’s first team as a teenager.
“In the beginning, especially in Germany, I played in many different positions: I played center back, I played striker, I played midfield. [No.] 6, [No.] 8, [No.] 10, right back. I’ve done it all,” he said. “Last year I started the season at right wing-back, which was quite nice, something I’m familiar with, and this year, starting in my true position, which I obviously love and I I feel most comfortable with because it allows me to release my energy and just run back and forth and defend, attack, be in the box. So I think the difference for me is obviously in that role, I can potentially score more goals and be more involved in the attack.”
McKennie’s willingness to be versatile is a new hallmark of his game and demonstrates a level of professionalism that was crucial to his ability to work his way back into the Juventus line-up even after Motta’s summer retirement.
“At the end of the day, football is football,” McKennie said. “It happens. Of course it’s stupid that it happens every year, but it is what it is. Like I said before, I’m someone who, if that happens to me, I can lay my head down. I can go to work and focusing on that and doing what I do best and just trying to prove people wrong.”
Reinventing the image of the USMNT
McKennie is one of several members of the U.S. Men’s National Team playing for recognizable clubs in Europe, marking a marked evolution in the team’s player pool since the days when the U.S.’s top talent competed for the continent’s mediocre clubs. However, that hasn’t always translated into an upward trajectory for the USMNT: the second-youngest team at the 2022 World Cup advanced to the round of 16, but the same group crashed out of the Copa America group stage a year and a half ago. -half later.
Last summer’s disappointment prompted US Soccer to hire Mauricio Pochettino in September, who is tasked with overseeing a culture change in hopes of making a statement at the 2026 World Cup on home soil. Within a few months, McKennie said Pochettino did that. has restored the sense of competition that was the hallmark of the USMNT decades ago, but has thus far eluded the current generation, despite the achievements they have made at club level.
‘I think honestly [he] bring back the kind of ferocity in the team, that South American feeling, that clearly goes hard in tackles, no matter who you play against, maybe a bit of nastiness, you could say, without the sport itself, but a bit nastiness in the game and that grittiness that the US has always been known for,” McKennie said of Pochettino.
“I think since a lot of players are playing in Europe now, playing for decent clubs and big clubs, respectable clubs, it’s very different from back then,” he added. “All those guys had something to prove to these bigger teams all along and I think that’s what’s missing a little bit now. The fact that we have all these guys that are in Europe – we’re there, we’re doing it day in and day out and we’re at respectable clubs and big clubs, while back then they were trying to reach those clubs, so they’re there every game saying, ‘Yo, this is America we’re known for. Y’all doubt us and your boys say we’re not good enough and all that, “and then we go out and do what we do best, I think that will definitely be something he can help us with and teach us again.”
A seven-year veteran of the national team, McKennie is one of several players who will be tasked with ensuring the culture change finally aligns with the talent he and his teammates clearly boast. The ebbs and flows of his club career have prepared him for the adjustments that need to be made to achieve goals with the USMNT, including helping Pochettino feel welcome among a group of players who have collectively risen through the national team’s youth ranks.
“We’ve all known each other for a long time,” McKennie said. “You get a coach who comes, who obviously wants to integrate with us and we want to integrate with him and his staff and make everyone feel like a big family. Obviously we want to win games, but we also know that.” we’re not going to have the same amount of time as our club teams to be able to do that so you have to make the most of it by maybe learning faster and mastering it faster so that’s obviously being a player who can adapt and learning the many different roles that entails. I have played at club level, which also makes it much easier to adapt to a new coach.”
Giving back to the community
McKennie’s continued success at club and international level has also allowed him to pursue a new passion: launching McKennie’s Magical Youth Mission, a foundation focused on children in foster care and orphanages. The foundation helps children in Italy and the US, mainly in Miami and Dallas, where McKennie has a home base. He was inspired by his own family to help, especially his cousin.
“I have a great love for and [am] I’m drawn to orphanages and children just because I have a big family,” McKennie said in an interview on CBS Sports Golazo Network. “I have eight nieces and nephews and one of the things that inspired me to do that was my oldest cousin, because he was nice from growing up without a father. My sister was the one who raised him on her own and just being that figure for him and that motivator and inspiration for him to do what he’s doing now, I have a real connection with it. My goal, hopefully when this goes full speed ahead, is to serve many underprivileged communities and orphanages across the country in the United States and also here in Italy and hopefully eventually spread this around the world.
McKennie’s Magical Youth Mission is still in its infancy, but the player and his team have already made an impact in several communities. One of McKennie’s first events with the foundation took place over the summer, when he visited children at Miami Bridge Youth and Family Services. The USMNT standout made some real relationships that day and still keeps in touch with the kids he met.
“Wes came and talked to a bunch of kids, signed some balls and brightened their day,” Kiley Cosentino, a customer service manager who works with McKennie’s agent and is involved with the foundation, told CBS Sports. “His character literally made them realize that even someone of this caliber really wants to talk [them] and mentor [them] and to this day he even speaks to some of those who need someone. A lot of the stories that these kids told him were very sad and disheartening to hear and for him to be there and have a shoulder to lean on and also for him, at his caliber, to be able to talk to him and also understanding his story and where he comes from, it really opened them up. By the end of the event they were literally kicking his ass and showing him their drawings and the meaning behind their drawings.”
The foundation expanded its reach this holiday season by donating 500 Thanksgiving dinners and gift cards to children at Miami Bridge and Uplift Education, a free public school in Dallas. McKennie also donated toys and winter clothing to children at an event in Turin last week. McKennie also plans to revisit Miami Bridge to build on the connections he made over the summer
“We chose Miami Bridge to maintain the connection with the children and let them know that Wes is still there for them,” said Cosentino. “He’ll come back to town and see a lot of them, if they’re still in the foster care system.”
Cosentino said McKennie’s thoughtfulness in his interactions with children through McKennie’s Magical Youth Mission is matched by his willingness to do the work behind the scenes, even as he balances the busy schedule that comes with being a top professional soccer player.
“He’s very optimistic, very chill,” she said of McKennie. “He will do almost anything if it means taking care of the community and helping in any way he can, especially with his schedule. He is constantly traveling, constantly doing marketing deals, but he always finds the time to sit down and to do those things.” calls that are necessary, especially for his foundation.”