Weston McKennie completes permanent move to Juventus in €18.5m deal

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Juventus have completed the signing of Schalke midfielder Weston McKennie on a permanent four-year deal for a fee of around €18.5 million. 

The deal stipulates that the Serie A giants will pay the transfer fee over the course of the next three years and the final payment may increase by a further €6.5 million if certain clauses are met. 

McKennie only joined the Turin side in August 2020 but has since gone on to become an important part of Andrea Pirlo’s team. 

So far this season the box-to-box midfielder has featured in over 31 games for Juventus, scoring five goals and even winning his first piece of silverware in Italy when he helped his side beat Napoli in the Italian Super Cup. 

McKennie has made short work of progressing up the tiers of European football since making the move to Europe in August 2016, when he rejected a contract offer from FC Dallas to sign for Schalke. 

The midfielder spent less than a year in the Bundesliga club’s youth side before he was knocking on the door of the first team. 

McKenne made his senior breakthrough in the 2017/18 season, when he featured in over 25 first team games for Schalke and would go on to nail down a spot in the Royal Blues first team for the next two seasons before his loan move to Juventus. 

“The fact that Juventus prefers the transfer and that Weston McKennie is already permanently committed gives us greater planning security with a view to the new season,” explained Schalke CEO, Christina Rühl-Hamers, upon the publication of the deal between both clubs. “We wish Weston all the best for the future.”

Very few would question McKennie’s decision to make his move south a permanent one, considering the fact that his former parent club are currently in the midst of trying to fight off what will surely be relegation from the German top-flight. 

With mounting debt and diminishing revenue streams in the second tier, it’s likely that Schalke will happily take the money available for the player now and do their best to make it last next season.