Reports: Borussia Dortmund in talks to sign Weston McKennie

By now, you can probably figure out that American midfielder Weston McKennie is in the group of players that Juventus are trying to offload this summer. Getting rid of the excess players — especially those in the midfield — is going to be one of the club’s biggest tasks knowing that the desire is to both get an influx of cash while also dropping the wage bill.

As we await to see what happens with Denis Zakaria and West Ham’s reported interest, another Juve midfielder who has returned from a loan in the Premier League last season looks to be in talks with a potential new club.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport and later confirmed by ESPNFC’s Constantin Eckner, McKennie’s camp is in talks with Borussia Dortmund over a potential move this summer after the midfielder saw his buy option at Leeds United not be activated with their relegation to England’s second division this past season. If something does end up happening between Juventus and Dortmund, it would be a return to the Bundesliga for McKennie, who was signed from Schalke on an initial loan deal in the summer of 2020.

Both outlets say that negotiations between McKennie and Borussia Dortmund “have recently progressed.”

McKennie has been linked with a handful of clubs already this summer as Juve looked to unload the 24-year-old Texas native. With how things went with Leeds and that €33 million buy option falling through, McKennie has become part of a three-headed monster of sorts with Zakaria and Arthur Melo when it comes to midfielders who Juve are very much trying to sell thus summer.

And you know the last thing that new Juve director Cristiano Giuntoli wants to see is to have more than one — if any — of those potential deals linger and the legitimate risk of them being on the until at least January take place.

Talk of McKennie potentially being sold to Galatasaray has cooled. Same goes for a potential return to the Premier League. So if this Dortmund link is the real deal, then it could turn out to be something that works in Juve’s favor considering his experience in Germany and the fact that he would be playing for the club that probably should have won the Bundesliga last season. Throw in the fact that another high-profile American is already at Dortmund in the form of Gio Reyna, and there’s reason to think that McKennie would be interested in a move back to Germany.