Weston McKennie believes he has changed some minds at Juventus after reports this summer that he was no longer in the club’s plans.
The U.S. men’s national team midfielder was reportedly set to be excluded from the club’s preseason tour of the United States, but ended up making the trip and showed well, earning another chance with the Serie A giants.
McKennie has played in all three of Juventus’s league games thus far and started one, as he’s slotted in at an unfamiliar right wingback role.
Speaking to reporters at USMNT camp on Thursday, McKennie said he felt as though he started from scratch this summer after returning from a difficult loan spell at Leeds.
“Things happen so fast,” he said. “Things can change within a day, things can change within a week. For me, my biggest challenge to myself was just to take care of my body and come back to preseason prepared, and not give anyone anything to talk about or try and bring up about me.”
“Coming back [to Juventus] I felt like I started back at square zero,” McKennie continued. “But it was a challenge I think I needed at this time in my career. I still have to prove to people that I’m still the player that I am, the player that they know I can be. So going into preseason in America I just wanted to put on good performances, which I think I did. I think it helped change the minds of some people. So we’ll see where it goes from here.”
McKennie subbed into Juve’s first two games in place of his USMNT teammate Tim Weah, who has been the club’s starting right wingback in the early going. In the team’s third game, McKennie started at right wingback and was replaced by Weah.
McKennie, sitting next to Weah, pointed to his teammate for club and country and said: “You’re looking at starting right wingback and backup right wingback right now,” before touching on the pair’s differing roles for Juventus and the USMNT.
“Here I’m seen as a No. 8 and Timmy is seen as a winger and club team, [Weah is] right wingback and [I’m] right wingback-slash-midfielder,” McKennie said.
“With us being able to play so many different positions and being able to adapt to so many situations and roles, I think it’s a good quality to have. I don’t think that we really stress that much about it. We both love one thing that I know for sure, [that] is to win.”
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