I can’t believe we’re actually targeting another midfielder this summer. We’ve signed Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the last 12 months but aren’t resting on our laurels and it’s refreshing to see.
According to ESPN, Tottenham are on the hunt for Weston McKennie and may have to battle Southampton, Newcastle United, Leicester City, Everton, Chelsea, Hertha Berlin and AS Monaco to procure his signature.
How good is McKennie?
Pretty darn good. The 21-year-old has already made 91 appearances in all competitions for Schalke 04 since joining on a free transfer from Dallas Academy in 2016, scoring five goals with seven assists.
McKennie played for the U19s (21 appearances, four goals, four assists) in his debut season and was promoted to the first-team in his second campaign.
- 2017/18: 26 appearances
- 2018/19: 33 appearances, two goals, six assists
- 2019/20: 32 appearances, three goals, one assist
As per WhoScored, McKennie created 17 chances, completed 80.9% of his 1028 passes, won 63/108 aerial duels, made 27/46 successful dribbles, had 32 shots with 25% hitting the target, blocked 40 passes/crosses/shots, made 37 clearances, won 15 free-kicks, averaged a tackle (38) or interception (46) every 25 minutes and was dribbled past only once every 78 minutes.
McKennie made more interceptions than Eric Dier (21), Harry Winks (36), Moussa Sissoko (27) and Ndombele (14), so there’s no doubt he’d improve our midfield.
How much will he cost?
L’Equipe (h/t GFFN) believe McKennie’s asking price is €20m while Sky Germany (h/t GGFN) say Schalke are requesting €25m. The Bundesliga outfit are reportedly resigned to losing the midfielder as their finances are in disarray, but we may need to sell before we can buy.
We don’t have much of a transfer kitty this summer, so we need to generate funds from the sale of existing players before we’re in a position to complete deals for targets – Danny Rose, Serge Aurier, Juan Foyth and Cameron Carter-Vickers may be expendable.
Summary
McKennie looks a talented player and has years ahead of him to continue developing. He’s an improvement on many of our existing midfielders and would provide added steel to turn over possession and thwart opposition attacks. If we can stump up the money, we should make a move.
In other news, Tottenham signing this Liverpool striker would be backwards and makes little sense