Weston McKennie Is the Swiss Army Knife USMNT Must Fully Embrace

Positional versatility has helped McKennie finally establish as a key player at Juventus. That ability to plug in and play could be just what Mauricio Pochettino needs to bring the USMNT success at the 2026 World Cup.

Weston McKennie (left) is showing Mauricio Pochettino his full repertoire. | Kevork Djansezian/USSF/Getty Images

You can’t always find Weston McKennie, but then he does something that makes sure you can’t miss him.

A week ago, in the first leg of Juventus’s Champions League knockout playoff with Galatasaray, McKennie was up top. Deployed in the unfamiliar position as a striker, he was able to assist a goal in a 5-2 defeat. Four days later, he was back on the right side, in a more familiar role as the right wingback for a Serie A match.

He started as a left back in Wednesday’s second leg against Galatasaray, though positional discipline went completely out the window after center back Lloyd Kelly was sent off. McKennie ended up scoring a scrappy header that pushed the tie into extra time. He nearly assisted the winner too, only to see that chance go begging. An exhausted Juventus fell short in extra time, but McKennie was credited for giving everything he could give.

It was a frustrating result, but it was another display that McKennie can do it all on the soccer field - and is doing it all in the last two months. Before the Champions League clash, he had a pair of assists while playing as a No. 10. The weekend before that he scored a header against Lazio as an advanced attacker.

“As long as I’m playing, I’m happy,” he told FIFA’s website before the Club World Cup. “If you put me as goalkeeper and you tell me I’m starting now, I’ll play it. At least I’m on the field and I just want to do the best that I can to help the team and to win games.

The midfielder/attacker/fullback is doing just that, getting hot at the right time, with only months to go before the U.S. men’s national team hopes to put together a sterling World Cup in front of its home fans.

But whether with club or country, it hasn’t been straightforward for McKennie, even as well as he’s been playing.

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From Unwanted to Irreplaceable

McKennie (center) has had a number of doubters during his career. | Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images

This had to be the year.

It has become a tradition at Juventus for Weston McKennie to fall out of favor. Whether a new manager who is more inclined for a different player or a holdover who wonders if the grass is greener with a different player, every manager wanted to move on from McKennie. One time, it happened. McKennie spent a period on loan with Leeds United in 2023 but soon was back at Juventus.

Now, McKennie is a utility player who manager Luciano Spalletti feels comfortable putting anywhere on the pitch and knowing he’ll get a good return. He has become so crucial that after a winter of rumors that McKennie may transfer to a Premier League team or even make a move to MLS after the 2026 World Cup, he now is thought to be nearing a contract extension that would keep him in Turin through 2030.

McKennie, it turns out, is a player who simply will not yield.

MCKENNIE. AGAIN.

WESTON KEEPS JUVE’S #UCL CAMPAIGN ALIVE ‼️pic.twitter.com/f006DUAayt

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) February 25, 2026

“I just can’t believe how many people count him out time and time again,” U.S. midfield teammate Tyler Adams said on his The Captain with Tyler Adams podcast series. “This guy, with his back against the wall, is a scary version of Weston. For me, it’s no surprise. Weston is just a very talented soccer player. End of discussion.

“He can play any position on the field. He can compete against anyone. You need him to play center back? He’ll play center back. You need him to score goals? He’ll score goals. That’s Weston. He’s always arrived in the box well, he’s good in the air and he’s always scored goals. I’m not surprised by it.”

In addition to the extension for McKennie, Juventus also is reportedly hoping to re-sign Spalletti as manager with his contract set to expire this summer. It appears he’ll stay on. If not, his replacement would be wise to simply believe what the tape says when it comes to McKennie rather than repeat the cycle.

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U.S. Provides Another Manager to Win Over

McKennie has been in and out of Pochettino’s plans. | Daniel Jefferson/USSF/Getty Images

McKennie has been a fixture with the U.S. national team—even during difficult moments like when he broke Covid protocol at the beginning of the 2022 World Cup qualification cycle.

He now cuts a more mature figure, but current boss Mauricio Pochettino has called him in to just one camp since the U.S. fell in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals in March.

At the time, the U.S. manager said the omissions were because of his need to settle in at Juventus and that he knew what McKennie offered the team. There’s no doubt that, if healthy, the 27-year-old will be on the final list.

But where does he fit in the squad? While McKennie can play as a wingback, the U.S. has strong options there. Adams should slot into the central midfield role, and Christian Pulisic will play as a 10. Even with McKennie’s creative chaos, Pulisic’s traditional spark will be more valued. In the formation Pochettino has played, there’s a space next to Pulisic that functions as a second 10. That may be the perfect role for McKennie, though it’s more advanced than he’s traditionally played with the U.S.

3 - Weston #McKennie (10) is the third Juventus midfielder to score at least 10 goals in Champions League/European Cup, after Michel Platini (17) and Pavel Nedved (11). Olympus.#JuveGalatasaray #UCL pic.twitter.com/euUgAkMRjQ

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 25, 2026

The challenge for Pochettino is that he wants to maintain structure in the team, especially when the U.S. doesn’t have the ball and McKennie can be an asset in the team’s defensive posture.

“He can be an important player for us, but I think it’s about having a player who can interpret every single situation in the game, to have the obligation when we don’t have the ball to find our best organization that is more strict, rigid because we need to respect our position but when we have the ball,” Pochettino said in an October news conference after McKennie started in a playmaking role against Ecuador.

Really, the temptation for Pochettino may be to simply wind Wes up and let him go. “What I want to provide him is the freedom,” the manager said.

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The Right Moment

McKennie’s hitting his peak at just the right time. | Image Photo Agency/Getty Images

At age 27, it seems that McKennie is arriving at the prime of his career. This is a somewhat new sensation for U.S. fans. The national team’s legends often have been late bloomers who go through the college system, like Clint Dempsey arriving to Fulham in his mid-20s, or never sustained European success like Landon Donovan.

Others were involved in various early stages of the sport in the U.S., be it the indoor game, 1994’s experiment to keep the national team together like a club team or other colorful moments of development.

McKennie spurned FC Dallas’s first-team offer to jump to Schalke when he was 18, meaning he’s been playing in a top European league for nearly a decade. That club’s need for a versatile player led to McKennie starting to hone some of the skills he’s now showing every week with Juventus and the national team.

He now has what he needs: Freedom from the national team manager, stability with his club and the chance to go out and do something different each match in the name of helping his team. If he can continue to put those things together heading into the summer, you won’t be able to miss McKennie in the U.S. He’ll be everywhere.

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