'I let people down' - USMNT star Weston McKennie makes frank admission about failed Leeds loan, but believes experience is helping him at Juventus — Goal 22/11/23
Peter McVitie
Weston McKennie has admitted that his loan spell at Leeds
did not go as well as he expected and feels he "let certain people
down".
The United States midfielder was loaned to the Elland Road
club in January to aid in their bid to avoid relegation to the Championship
last season. He made 19 league appearances but did not have the desired effect,
registering just one assist as they finished second-bottom and dropped down to
the second tier.
McKennie told Sky Sport in Italy: "I didn’t have the
best performances. I felt I let certain people down. But at the end of the day,
when I came back, I think it was important for me in general to have an
experience like that, to have that happen to me at this moment of my career,
because when I came back it felt like I was coming back here for the first time
again. When I first came to Juventus, nobody knew who I was, everybody doubted
me, everybody was against me, and I think it was important for me because it
put chips back on my shoulder. That’s when I perform best and prove that I can
do it and that I belong, so it was nice to come back and have that feeling
again."
McKennie has been given a key role by coach Massimiliano
Allegri since he moved back to Juventus during the summer. He has played in all
12 of their Serie A games so far this season and remains an important part of
the United States national team, playing all 90 minutes as they beat Trinidad
and Tobago in the CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final first-leg.
McKennie had to withdraw from the USMNT team before the
second-leg of the Nations League tie due to an injury, however, and it has not
yet been confirmed whether or not he will be fit for Juve's headline Serie A
showdown against Inter on Sunday.
