McKennie’s impending Villa move has more than meets the eye | OneFootball

McKennie may not be an exciting signing for many Villans, but there’s more than meets the eye with this deal as Aston Villa expand their fanbase in the States.

Words: Mark Jirobe | @MarkJirobe

_______

United States and Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie has grown into a massive talking point in the arenas of Aston Villa support. It is widely reported that McKennie is going to be a part of a swap-plus-money deal for current Aston Villa midfielder and fan favourite Douglas Luiz, with Luiz now considered a club hero for the Villans after joining in 2019.

At the time Aston Villa supporters were jubilant, yet sceptical why such a talent would want to join a newly promoted side. The midfielder was highly rated by Manchester City, but work permit issues had forced them to loan to sister club Girona for an average season-long spell, before cutting ties seemed like the best option.

Since then, the relationship between Aston Villa and Douglas Luiz has blossomed into something fairly special. Luiz was voted both Supporter’s Player of the Season and Player’s Player of the Season at the club’s end-of-season awards for the 2022-2023 season. The fans adore him, he has made more than a few good (and bad) memories and he will be looked back on in Aston Villa folklore as an important player at an important time for the club.

Flash forward to 2024 and the ever-present ‘silly season’ for football, Luiz seems to be on his way to Juventus in a swap deal for Weston McKennie, England Under-21 starlet Samuel Iling-Junior and a fee of around 20 million pounds. It is no secret that Aston Villa need to raise funds due to the Premier League’s Profit And Sustainability Rules. But why would they let such an adored, respected and talented player leave on what is being called a gamble?

Aston Villa’s Worldwide Scope

Wes Edens, one-half of the ownership group at Aston Villa beside Nassef Sawiris, knows more than a few things about the American sports market. More specifically, he knows that scope and marketability are everything when trying to gain funds for a sporting institution. Especially a sporting institution with a history and size of Aston Villa. American Edens has been the co-owner of the National Basketball Association club Milwaukee Bucks since 2014 when he splashed an unfathomable $550 million to own the Bucks, vowing to keep the team in Milwaukee and build a new state-of-the-art arena for the team to play in. Both of those vows were at the pinnacle of his plan to own the team and Edens made it happen through smart investment, working with local government and communication with the Bucks supporter community.

This proves that when Edens says something, he means it. And he has not let Aston Villa nor their supporters down since acquiring the club with Nassef Sawiris in 2019. Aston Villa has gone from strength to strength on the pitch and continues to make positive financial strides in the right direction behind the scenes as well in the form of clearing debts from previous ownership, striking a lucrative deal with Adidas for the upcoming season and ironing out a deal with Greek gambling casino Betano before the Premier League institutes a ban on betting sponsors on shirts and merchandise. Villa have to make money and you don’t make money by sitting around and hoping that it appears out of thin air. After healthy spending year after year, Aston Villa is now in a difficult situation where they need to sell player assets and reassess what Aston Villa Football Club means not only as a footballing side but as a brand as well.

Putting their best foot forward in the finances department, it seems like a no-brainer to bring in a bona-fide American superstar to the ranks of Aston Villa. Weston McKennie isn’t quite the household name that Christian Pulisic is, but he’s damned close. It is not a shop secret that Aston Villa have been exploring ways to heighten its profile in the American sporting market: easily identified by multiple USA pre-season tours over the past number of years which Villa are about to embark on yet again later this summer. Villa have visited some massive cities in the States and it does not appear as if they’re going to stop any time soon with stops in Chicago and New Jersey/New York on the horizon. Weston McKennie’s supposed arrival at Aston Villa appears to be a signing that will bring in a physical presence, and squad depth, all the while selling an honestly asinine amount of merchandise and giving average American football supporters a push in the direction of supporting the side.

Due to lucrative television deals and more ease of access in America to watch the Premier League, there isn’t a better time for internationally known players to come to Aston Villa. Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris are more than smart enough to know that sometimes you need to do a little bit of advertising, and there isn’t a better advertisement to a budding football market in America ahead of their World Cup hosting than bringing in one of their biggest national team stars.

Questions on McKennie’s Quality

Not every Villa supporter is thrilled about the traditional number 8 playing at Villa Park. The last time most English football fans saw McKennie was while the American was on loan at Leeds United, a dreadful team that would go on to be relegated. In fairness, that entire Leeds squad stunk of disjointed dysfunction which was reeling from the departure of manager Marcelo Bielsa. Leeds lost their identity with the sacking of Bielsa and were then scrambling to do whatever they could to stay in the Premier League, which ultimately crashed into the Championship.

Since then, McKennie has been playing fairly well for Italian giants Juventus. The La Vecchia Signora finished 3rd in Serie A this season and McKennie featured 34 times; notching seven assists to his name. However, goals and assists aren’t quite the Americans’ game when it comes to club football. McKennie finished the season for Juventus with 64 progressive carries & 92 progressive passes. In simple terms, McKennie does not like fooling around with playing backwards if he can help it. He can play the ball forward with gusto, even if that means dribbling the ball forward. This doesn’t mean that McKennie is defensively irresponsible by any means, finishing in the 95th percentile of all midfielders in the world for clearances. By comparison, Douglas Luiz finished last season in the 8th percentile of all midfielders in the world for clearances. Is this a sign that Villa manager Unai Emery realizes that his side needs to get more defensively responsible, after a season where Villa only kept 8 Premier League clean sheets and conceded 61 Premier League goals? It could be a slow process for Villa and Emery, but it most definitely seems so.

McKennie may not be the type of player who is nailed on to develop into a world-beater at Aston Villa. He may not start every match, he may not lead the team in scoring or assists. He might even pick up a niggle or two throughout the season. But if there is one thing that has been ever-present for Villa under the tutelage of Unai Emery, it’s that he can raise the general footballing level of most players. He’s made his career an instruction manual on how to instil belief into footballers at various stages of their careers, who then repay his belief with steady and impactful performances. Does Weston McKennie play anything like Douglas Luiz? The answer would be no. Does Weston McKennie play a physical, hard-working and smart game? Yes, he does. That sounds like something Unai Emery would very much appreciate in his Aston Villa team.

Problems with the Transfer

It’s always a shame to see a player leave a club after sharpening their trade for years and years, but the impending deal to swap Luiz for McKennie means much more than just a player swap. It could be the first tangible shot for Aston Villa to become a household name in the United States, which undoubtedly only helps Aston Villa and their finances in the long run and side-step any further PSR scares for years to come. In the same breath, McKennie could be a very tidy squad option for an Aston Villa side who are coming into Champions League football with a willingness to stay there for years and years. Make no mistake, Aston Villa are having their hands forced in this instance due to the often nonsensical PSR rules of the Premier League – but if they can turn an unfavourable situation into a lucrative one, it will once again be a positive note that Edens and Sawiris have championed.