Juventus have tried to get rid of Weston McKennie. They even succeeded once, sending him on loan to Leeds United only for the American to return six months later. When he got back to Turin, as US coach Gregg Berhalter told the story at the time, Juve had emptied his locker and given away his parking spot. Despite this, McKennie stuck around.
It’s just as well for the Old Lady that he did – McKennie is now in the form of his life. The 27-year-old has scored four times in just eight games since the start of 2026. He has become one of Juve’s most important players and arguably the biggest driving force behind their recent upturn in form. Luciano Spalletti – among the most big-name coaches currently working in Italian football – has used McKennie to mould the team in his own image.
Spalletti is a tactical radical. In this era of positional play, he argued “systems no longer exist in football” during his Scudetto-winning time at Napoli. “It’s all about the spaces left by the opposition, he told Sky Sports Italia recently. “You must be quick to spot them and know the right moment to strike.”
This is surely why he likes McKennie – a position-less player, or rather, an every position player. He’s been Juve’s utility man for years, filling in all over the field whenever required. According to WhoScored, McKennie has played as a left back, right back, left wing back, right wing back, defensive midfielder, central midfielder, right winger, No 10 and centre forward last season. The only surprise is that he hasn’t played in goal (yet!).
Since Spalletti’s arrival in October, McKennie has been most commonly used on the right side. From there the American has the license to drift inside, get in between the lines and push up as a secondary striker. As Spalletti says, systems no longer exist and McKennie is the Juventus player who best embodies the philosophy of the club’s new manager.
One wonders what Mauricio Pochettino makes of McKennie’s current form. The US head coach omitted McKennie from his roster for the recent September and November friendlies, arguing “we already know what he can provide the team.” This was a confusing reasoning considering how little time Pochettino had to work with his best players in 2025.
McKennie is certainly one of the United States’ best players, but it’s not clear how he will fit into the lineup at the World Cup. Pochettino seems unsure of the 27-year-old’s suitability for one of the deep-lying midfield roles, meaning he could be pushed further forward into one of the dual-No 10 positions. This part of the pool, however, also includes Christian Pulisic, Malik Tillman, Gio Reyna and Diego Luna. Competition is stiff.
It’s possible McKennie could line up for the USMNT on the right side like he frequently does for Juventus. There, he could play in a 4-4-2 out of possession as part of the midfield four and tuck inside off the wing in attacking phases. So far, though, Pochettino has favoured Sergiño Dest, Tim Weah and even Alex Freeman in this role.
If Pochettino is, as some suspect, a doubter of McKennie, he can expect to be proven wrong by the midfielder before too long. This is McKennie’s thing. He has been written off several times in his career. Almost every season McKennie has spent at Juventus has started with speculation about his future there. He’s been told multiple times to expect limited game time and every time he has worked his way back into the team.
Misunderstood by past Juventus managers, Spalletti clearly gets McKennie. He has a firm grasp of his strengths and his weaknesses and has built his Juventus team around the American to accentuate the former. Against Parma on Sunday, when Juve produced arguably their best performance of the season so far, McKennie was at the heart of everything, scoring in the 37th minute of a 4-1 win.
“I have never in my career worked with a coach like this,” McKennie said of Spalletti after his man-of-the-match performance. Spalletti has also taken the opportunity to talk up the Juve player who has embraced his ideas more fully than anyone else. “He fights, he’s strong in the air and he can jump high,” said the Old Lady boss. “He plays to get results because he makes decisions. He would be a perfect striker.”
Talks over a new contract to keep McKennie at Juventus beyond the end of the season have reportedly started. Conflicting claims have linked the midfielder with rival Serie A teams Milan and Napoli while a move to FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer appeared to be on the cards not so long ago. McKennie’s agent recently took to social media to dispel what he called “lies and propaganda.”
What isn’t a lie is McKennie’s value to Juventus on the pitch. At a time when the Turin club is rebuilding for the future, the American is showing he deserves to be a central pillar of Spalletti’s new-look team. If and when McKennie puts pen to paper on a new contract maybe he can ask for his parking spot back.
