Leeds United loanee Weston McKennie cheers on Juventus in social media video amid uncertain future
Weston McKennie made clear that he still has a place in his heart for Juventus as the Leeds United loanee cheered on the Italian side on via social media.
The USMNT midfielder took to his Instagram stories on Thursday night (13 April) as his parent club faced Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League, where they won their quarter final first leg 1-0.
The 24-year-old has a handshake provision to become a permanent Whites signing at the end of the season if the club stay in the Premier League, but differing reports have expressed varying levels of doubt over the move going through.
Juventus’ financial difficulties mean they would prefer that none of their trio of Premier League loanees (Denis Zakaria at Chelsea and Arthur Melo at Liverpool) returned at the end of the season.
But McKennie looks like he is prepared for that eventuality as he cheered on his former teammates over footage of the players lining up ahead of kick off on his TV, under the caption, “Good luck [heart] Juventus”, with the full video shown on Corriere dello Sport.
A report from 90min on 22 March said that the Elland Road hierarchy were not looking to take up the €33million [£30million] option, but Calcio Mercato in Italy have since reported (6 April) that the Whites have “already decided” to buy him outright.
Door open
McKennie spent two and a half years in Turin before arriving at Leeds United so he will obviously have a bond with the club still.
His adaptation to the Premier League hasn’t been seamless but he has shown enough quality to suggest that he would be a useful addition to the squad long-term.
The price at which he is available is surely the sticking point as it is a lot to spend on a player if he is not guaranteed to start, although the club have proven willing to do so with Georginio Rutter.
The coming weeks will prove whether Javi Gracia sees him as a key part of the Whites line up, although the potential for the Spaniard to be gone in the summer complicates matters further.
Either way McKennie certainly has the Serie A side in his thoughts since he could yet be headed back there with so much still up in the air, but if he can produce a few more sparkling performances like the one he put in to help defeat Nottingham Forest on 4 April it may make the decision easier.
In other Leeds United news, surprise confidence has emerged amid a sorry state of affairs at the club.