Now that Kenan Yildiz’s new contract has been officially signed and all of the promotion of said newsworthy event have been sent out on social media, there still still remains other contract extension matters that need to be sorted out by Juventus’ front office.
Like the future of Weston James Earl McKennie.
As we know, McKennie’s current contract runs through the 2025-26 season and nothing more than that. It has, especially late, become a very prominent matter for the Juve higher-ups to address considering
McKennie is arguably on his best run of form since he arrived in Turin in the summer of 2020, with a big assist going new manager Luciano Spalletti, who took over in late October after the firing of Igor Tudor. It is that form that has given McKennie plenty of reason to hope that Juventus are to re-open contract talks just when it looked like things might be heading in the other direction just a couple of months ago.
But things appear to be changing.
Late Monday, Italian transfer reporter Nicolo Schira reported that Juventus are set to offer McKennie a new three-year contract that would run through 2029 — giving the American midfielder the long-awaited stability when it comes to his future that many feel he deserves. Schira adds that Juve will offer a salary of €4 million net per season, a figure that would be a significant jump from the reported €2.5 million net salary that he currently earns.
In a recent interview, McKennie made it be known that he would certainly prefer to stay with Juventus even as he is currently free to negotiate with other clubs ahead of a potential move as a free agent. In Schira’s reporting, he points out that McKennie has interest from all over Europe, with clubs in Serie A, Ligue 1, La Liga and the Premier League all interested in potentially bringing McKennie in this summer if his contract with Juventus were to run out at the end of June.
But, with Juventus now re-opening contract talks, the club is hopeful it doesn’t get to that point.
Having played the back-and-forth game in which he’s in the squad then out of the squad and then back in it the last few years, to now see him thriving under Spalletti — a manager who McKennie said after the win over Parma two weekends ago was the best coach he’s ever worked with — is proof enough that a new contract is something that has come to the forefront now that Yildiz’s new deal is officially signed and crossed off the to-do list.
Since Spalletti took over as manager, no Serie A midfielder has scored more goals in all competitions than McKennie has with seven. It’s already a career-high goal total for McKennie, who is also close to matching his career-best goal contributions total of 10 that he set when he was dishing out assists left and right in Max Allegri’s final season as manager and the versatile Texan was usually fielded as a wingback on the right wing.
