Weston McKennie

Weston James Earl McKennie (born August 28, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays primarily as a midfielder for Serie A club Juventus and the United States national team. A highly versatile player, he has been described as a "Swiss Army knife" and is routinely deployed in any outfield position except center-back.

A youth prospect from FC Dallas, McKennie began his senior club career at Bundesliga side Schalke 04 after rising through the team's academy sector. In 2017–18, he established himself as a first team player, playing 25 games in all competitions. After three seasons, McKennie moved to Serie A champions Juventus on loan, with the deal becoming permanent in March 2021. With Juventus he won the 2020 Supercoppa Italiana and the Coppa Italia in 2020–21 and 2023–24.

McKennie has represented the United States internationally at both the youth and senior levels. He made his senior debut in 2017 and has finished runner-up in the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup and won the CONCACAF Nations League in 2021, 2023, and 2024, winning the best player award of the 2021 tournament. Individually he won a U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year award in 2020.

Early life

Although he was born at Fort Lewis, Washington, he considers Little Elm, Texas, his home town. McKennie lived in Kaiserslautern, Germany, from age six to nine as his father, a United States Air Force officer, was stationed at nearby Ramstein Air Base. McKennie started playing soccer for the local club FC Phönix Otterbach in 2004, before moving back to the United States. McKennie played for the youth system of Major League Soccer side FC Dallas for seven years from 2009 to 2016, before moving to Schalke. His transfer to Schalke was the main catalyst for FC Dallas to create their reserve team, North Texas SC, which played in USL League One.