Weston McKennie became the first American to play for Juventus this season in a surprising switch from Schalke 04.
The midfielder had been catching the eye of several top teams in Europe and he has admitted that he wasn’t exactly thinking about a move to Italy.
He loves the Premier League and he was eyeing a move there, but he eventually ended up at Juventus.
He has now revealed in a recent interview that he first thought that he was only at Juventus this moment on probation and that he wasn’t really thinking so much about staying at the club.
However, with time McKennie now feels more at home and he has also come to accept the fact that he belongs at this level and that he can do great things with the players he is surrounded by.
He told Sports Illustrated as quoted by Tuttojuve: “At first I thought: ok, it’s a loan, it looks like a probationary period of one year. But now I feel a sense of belonging, I think I have found my new home. I think I can play at these levels, with players alongside whom I have always dreamed of playing. I realized that I can keep up, that I can play with them, that I can have a role for this team and that I can make an impact. I’m not as worried as I was at the beginning.
“It is not easy for a young player to play at these levels, I hope to be able to show that things are changing, that even a club like Juve can be interested in a player like me or in American football in general. It will be a challenge, I don’t hide it. But I’ve always loved challenges ”.
The midfielder has been trusted by Andrea Pirlo in multiple games and he will hope to remain a relevant member of the Juventus first-team beyond this campaign.