Weston McKennie cited a variety of circumstances, including a lack of fitness, playing for three different coaches, and playing out of position, to explain his unsuccessful loan stint at Leeds the previous season.
Juventus loaned McKennie to Leeds in January for a period of six months. He was anticipated to add to the team’s midfield’s stability and to maintaining its Premier League position.
However, the U.S. national team midfielder’s situation swiftly deteriorated as he came under growing fire during a period that ultimately resulted in the club’s relegation.
McKennie, who is now back at Juventus, talked about his time at Leeds on an episode of Tim Ream’s podcast The American Dream. According to McKennie, the first problem was that McKennie was coming from Juventus, a team that frequently plays several games each week due to commitments in the European and cup competitions.
The midfielder joined a Leeds club that was only competing in the Premier League following its FA Cup elimination in February when he arrived there.
Since I played every three days for Juventus, I don’t believe I had the ideal physical condition. McKennie defended this claim.
For me, being fit for a game is really different than being fit for exercise. “By playing games, I get game-fit. I find it difficult to simulate game fitness when training. You can try, you can make it feel as much like a game as you can, but I can’t achieve it by playing one game per week. I didn’t think my physical condition was the best for a game that would go 90 minutes.
Another issue, in McKennie’s opinion, was that Jesse Marsch, a fellow American who played for Leeds, was immediately fired not long after Marsch arrived.
Before the season’s finish, Sam Allardyce would take over as head coach for the last four games when Marsch’s replacement Javi Gracia was fired as well.
“It didn’t help that I went there because of Jesse Marsch when I arrived. Then, two weeks after I arrived, he was fired,” stated McKennie. In six months, I had four different managers.
He continued, “Honestly, I don’t think one of my coaches even recognised who I was. You should be familiar with your team if a player is joining you on loan. For corner kicks, he placed me outside the box. And I tell myself, “In my career, I’ve scored 85% of my goals off set pieces and crosses.”
Last but not least, McKennie mentioned Tyler Adams’ injury in March, which had him play deeper than he usually would have.
Then Tyler got hurt, which made me play the part of the six. I don’t consider myself to be a six because I prefer to attack and defend, and I struggle if someone tells me to “just stay here, don’t go in the box” because I need room to move about and use my energy. So I believe that simply doing as planned didn’t work out.
McKennie would go on to say that he didn’t regret the move, describing it as a teaching moment and paying tribute to Leeds’ staff, players, and supporters. The midfielder did acknowledge, though, that the zeal of the Leeds supporters can go both ways.
They are really talkative, but that isn’t always a good thing, he noted. “They can speak up for you or against you. And towards the end, it was very much against me.”
