Weston McKennie Juventus Rollercoaster Life Continues After Amazing Champions League Display

Weston McKennie Juventus: Praise and Pressure

Love him or doubt him.

That’s the reality of Weston McKennie at Juventus.

When Juve fly, he’s everywhere: goals, assists, chaos. When things turn ugly, he’s often the first name questioned.

Weston McKennie also scored against Benfica, so he’s clearly on a roll. Tonight, the Texan midfielder scored his ninth goal in the Champions League with Juventus.

Since McKennie joined the Bianconeri, no player has scored more goals in Europe’s top competition with Juventus, apart from Dusan Vlahovic (also nine).

That says a lot about the Bianconeri’s performance in recent years, but that’s another story.

It looks like Luciano Spalletti’s arrival hasn’t done much for the Old Lady’s squad as a whole, but the Texan midfielder has scored in each of the last three games in Europe’s top competition with his goal against Benfica.

McKennie Champions League Numbers Tell the Story

Not only that, but the Juventus midfielder, who scored last night in Juve’s 2-0 win over Benfica, is the second American player to score ten goals in the UEFA Champions League after Milan’s Christian Pulišić.

While Spalletti’s contract is being discussed, the main issue is the agreement with McKennie.

The Texan’s contract is up at the end of the season, and at the moment there’s been no progress on talks about an extension.

There’s also been interest from abroad, with Atlético Madrid and some Premier League clubs interested, and the player’s financial demands are quite high. McKennie recently said he’s happy at Juve and wants to stay.

If Spalletti, as is more than likely, remains on the bench, it makes no sense to let him go. The only question that remains is the one we started with.

Why Spalletti Trusts the Texan

McKennie’s got very different technical skills to the other players, and he’s filling a role that’s been really important to Spalletti in the past. Simone Perrotta.

From 2005 to 2010, Simone Perrotta played 173 games under Spalletti, scoring 33 goals and providing 16 assists.

In Totti’s Roma, he was the key player who, from behind the striker, opened up the opposition’s defence.

It’s a role pretty much like the one the coach has set up for the American at Juventus.

He seems to be just what the Certaldo coach is looking for.