Reports: Leeds United table €28 million offer for Weston McKennie

The first three days of the last work week in January have seemingly seen a possible departure for Weston McKennie progress much in the fashion you would expect them to.

Monday brought us word of initial interest from Leeds United. Tuesday brought us that McKennie would be OK with moving to Leeds. What about Wednesday? Well, you can probably guess what happened next.

According to multiple reports out of Italy from the likes of Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Italia and Fabrizio Romano on Wednesday night, Leeds have tabled a €28 million offer to sign the 24-year-old McKennie. Juventus, however, look to have turned down the first offer for McKennie to have known to come in from Leeds, with both Di Marzio and Romano saying that the Bianconeri want to fetch €35 million for the American midfielder who arrived in Turin in the summer of 2020.

On top of the news about an offer from Leeds, Romano reported Wednesday night that McKennie and Leeds have already agreed to personal terms, which makes sense after Di Marzio reported what he reported the night before regarding his approval of a potential move to the Premier League side.

There is a potential catch in all of this, according to Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla: McKennie, despite giving his OK to a transfer to Leeds, could very well be hoping that an offer from a bigger club still comes to light before the January transfer window closes.

As you might have guessed, Pedulla says that Thursday will be a hugely important day in the negotiations between Leeds and Juventus with some potential middle ground on a transfer fee trying to be met.

McKennie first arrived at Juventus on loan but saw his €18.5 million option to buy picked up in March of 2021 after impressing under then-manager Andrea Pirlo. Up and down form as well as injuries have been the theme for the American midfielder the last two years under Max Allegri, which has seen playing time sometimes fluctuate. Sometimes that playing time has come out of position — something that happened under Pirlo from time to time but wasn’t to the same extent as in the last season and a half with Allegri.

Leeds, notably, are managed by American coach Jesse Marsch and added a pair of the United States men’s national team’s brightest talents in Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson during the summer transfer window.