Weston McKennie

[Barlow Boy]

why any normal footballer can't cross a ball is beyond me.

Drives me crackers when professional footballers can’t beat the first man on corners.

[Orange Box]

I'm a massive fan of Dallas & Ayling.

yeehah! is Dallas American? sure sounds like it

[Irish Ian]

Gray is back soon, very good footballer, Dallas is the only long term one I know about for sure. No clue where Gyabi was but he's one of the best centre mids at the club.

I doubt Gray will play seniors this season.
He has had three injuries, barely trained since August.

Best I expect is U21s.

[BlackHillsPaul]

Weston Mckennie would make us better. He typically plays as a box to box midfielder. For USA and Juventus he plays on the right side in a 4-3-3. But can also play deep as a defensive mid. At Schalke he did everything but drive the team bus. He would add some more bite to our midfield as he is similar to Adams in term of competitiveness. He's physical. Great in the air. But he's also got a good football brain. On his day he is a World Class midfielder. Just 24 years old, he is in his 7th top flight season as a starter for Schalke and Juventus. As Cjay said he has 41 caps for the USA. If we are willing to spend another $30 million on a midfielder (Edit: And if he is willing to come to Leeds.) we should snatch him up.

[DDB220]

Weston Mckennie would make us better. He typically plays as a box to box midfielder. For USA and Juventus he plays on the right side in a 4-3-3. But can also play deep as a defensive mid. At Schalke he did everything but drive the team bus. He would add some more bite to our midfield as he is similar to Adams in term of competitiveness. He's physical. Great in the air. But he's also got a good football brain. On his day he is a World Class midfielder. Just 24 years old, he is in his 7th top flight season as a starter for Schalke and Juventus. As Cjay said he has 41 caps for the USA. If we are willing to spend another $30 million on a midfielder we should snatch him up.

Agree - he would be a cracking signing. His propensity for getting injured would be the only concern. But it comes with the territory for a physical player like him.

[GreennWhite]

Love to see him come to Leeds. I thought Adams and him worked very well together in the world cup for the USA.

[DDB220]

I think we need a midfielder who can hit double figures. Whilst Adams and Mckennie would bring a lot of energy, neither are goal scorers. Pablo was the last one we had. Klich perhaps in the championship.

To truly become a good side you need goals in the midfield and we have lacked that for the past 3 seasons. It makes a big difference.

[DDB220]

To add weight - Dallas scored eight when we came 9th. I know he played on and off at RB and LB but pretty certain he scored a fair few from a central midfield position.

[Cjay]

I think we need a midfielder who can hit double figures. Whilst Adams and Mckennie would bring a lot of energy, neither are goal scorers. Pablo was the last one we had. Klich perhaps in the championship.

To truly become a good side you need goals in the midfield and we have lacked that for the past 3 seasons. It makes a big difference.

Agree with this.

We have no creativity or goal threat in cm (weird for a team who only wants to play centrally).

McKennie won't change that.

Ounahi may but we still need a McKennie type as well.

[The Subhuman]

We play 2 defensive centre mid so no surprise we don't create much from there.

[Cjay]

Florian Plettenberg who broke the Rutter news has said Weston McKennie is open to joining us.

But a deal will likely cost between £30-35mil.

Not for me at that price.

[BlackHillsPaul]

Agree with this.

We have no creativity or goal threat in cm (weird for a team who only wants to play centrally).

McKennie won't change that.

Ounahi may but we still need a McKennie type as well.

We mostly still play out of a 4-2-3-1. So in that set up can we assume that our new signing Georginio is the creative attacking midfielder playing behind Rodrigo?

In a scenario in which we have Weston McKennie in the squad I envision us playing out of the 4-3-3 that we have showed lately. In that set up the midfield three would be Roca/Aaronson/Greenwood, Adams, McKennie. Both Roca and Aaronson are supposed to be that creative player to some degree. Neither has really shown that in my opinion. But a lot of people would be surprised how much McKennie is involved in the USA attack.

[Jaydog]

Florian Plettenberg who broke the Rutter news has said Weston McKennie is open to joining us.

But a deal will likely cost between £30-35mil.

Not for me at that price.

It’s not your money though don’t forget.
Buy buy buy is my motto

[weasel]

Never seen him play but can't see how anyone could possibly be better than any of our players so no point signing him.

I'm chanelling my inner Velo

[Kennyb41]

Never seen him play but can't see how anyone could possibly be better than any of our players so no point signing him.

I'm chanelling my inner Velo

[DDB220]

We play 2 defensive centre mid so no surprise we don't create much from there.

It has nothing to do with creativity, it is about timing runs to get onto the end of crosses and having that ability to score from the edge of the box. All our midfielders find themselves with these opportunities we just don’t have any with that particular instinct.

Admittedly players with the ability of say Bellingham, Gerrard, Lampard, Nolan etc don’t come along often but we have had the likes of Speed in days past. It is not coincidental that the teams they played for were / are generally successful. Finding a player of that quality is no easy task. I am not suggesting we are in the market for top quality players, we need at least one midfielder with more prowess in front of goal.

[1964white]

Pablo seems a distant memory now.

[weasel]

It has nothing to do with creativity, it is about timing runs to get onto the end of crosses and having that ability to score from the edge of the box. All our midfielders find themselves with these opportunities we just don’t have any with that particular instinct.

Admittedly players with the ability of say Bellingham, Gerrard, Lampard, Nolan etc don’t come along often but we have had the likes of Speed in days past. It is not coincidental that the teams they played for were / are generally successful. Finding a player of that quality is no easy task. I am not suggesting we are in the market for top quality players, we need at least one midfielder with more prowess in front of goal.

Yeah you always seemed to get one defensive midfielder and then one that scored goals, Batty and MacAllister as an example. We have 2 that don't score despite our gung ho approach.

[andrewjohnsmith]

We mostly still play out of a 4-2-3-1. So in that set up can we assume that our new signing Georginio is the creative attacking midfielder playing behind Rodrigo?

In a scenario in which we have Weston McKennie in the squad I envision us playing out of the 4-3-3 that we have showed lately. In that set up the midfield three would be Roca/Aaronson/Greenwood, Adams, McKennie. Both Roca and Aaronson are supposed to be that creative player to some degree. Neither has really shown that in my opinion. But a lot of people would be surprised how much McKennie is involved in the USA attack.

I think the same on the formation. Recent signings are indicating that. Players like Rutter and Gnonto push us closer towards a front 3. And McKennie would be one more for the midfield 3. And it explains why we haven't signed the No. 10 we were so obviously missing in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

[andrewjohnsmith]

I doubt Gray will play seniors this season.
He has had three injuries, barely trained since August.

Best I expect is U21s.

He wasn't first team ready at the start of the season. This season was supposed to see him make progress towards that. But the injuries have put him back almost a full year.