The midfield duo already have a lot of history as they look to bring their chemistry to the highest level of English football.
When Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie are together, the hilarity isn’t usually far behind. The pair are the perfect comedy duo. Adams is cast as a mature, calm and straight man who can generally be trusted to keep the peace. self-proclaimed social butterfly with A Harry Potter obsession not afraid to crack jokes at their own expense.
In September, as the two were preparing for the World Cup, McKennie made one of the jokes that prompted even Adams to break character.
“For as much as me and Tyler have learned about each other,” McKennie began.
Laughter immediately erupts from the two players and everyone involved in the US Men’s National Team media call. What made the sarcasm so funny was that, like most good jokes, it was backed up with just a hint of truth.
On Monday, after years of being miscast as a Juventus runner in various positions, McKennie joined Adams at Leeds United to unite the USMNT’s most adorable duo at Elland Road. The first is a transaction that begins as a loan But if all goes well, it will become permanent at the end of the season, and Adams and McKennie will be together for years to come.
The move makes McKennie the latest USMNT star to join the ‘Leeds United States’ project, reuniting him with teammates Adams and Brenden Aaronson, as well as American head coach Jesse Marsh.
But the deal does more than just add another American to the club. It may have been easier to convince McKennie because the people involved were familiar, but he wasn’t signed simply because of his nationality.
At McKenny, Leeds acquired a much-needed midfielder in January and had already worked on several other areas of the team early in the window. made a big move on , adding pieces both defensively and offensively.
Midfield is the one place they lacked and they got it in McKennie. We certainly did.
The 24-year-old American is a dynamic, energetic chaos-creating midfielder that has legitimate impact across the field. He’s a set-piece weapon that makes him much better at arriving late in the box and can help the defense if needed. A good example.
“I need to be able to fight box-to-box. I need to be able to release my energy,” McKechnie said. leeds live. “I love [going] I like box to box, I like tackling, I like physical, I like trash talking, I like scoring goals. I love everything that Reese resonates with. ”
However, McKennie was not often played as a No. 8 at Juventus, instead being often miscast as a wide midfielder or No. 6. It felt like a square peg stuck in a round hole.
He did well enough and was generally a regular on a team that was still one of the best in the world. (despite recent scandals), But the American was never quite put in a position to do his best.
Enter Leeds, a club that should give him the chance to do just that. With Adams, Mark Roca and others behind him, McKennie is free. He can influence the game in a similar way to his USMNT.
The World Cup was a perfect example of how he and Adams complement each other.With Adams moving up to arguably Qatar’s best sixth place, McKechnie and Yunus Musa have a little more to offer in attack. We were able to provide And, at least in the group stage, they wreaked havoc, facing an England midfield with two players who dominated Wales and Iran and could be sold in nine figures at some point.
McKechnie and Adams are already proven players at a high level, having played big roles for the club in the Champions League. And as a team, we have a World Cup full of evidence proving that they can play at their best.
Of course, all this is good news for USMNT. Despite being traded to Juventus in the Champions League and lower-tier Leeds in the Premier League, McKennie’s move is great news for the United States, with his two young pillars playing and working together week after week. you can watch it grow.
“We’ve known each other for a long time, so we complement each other very well,” McKennie said of Adams.
“If one person leaves the position, the other person covers it. [It] It doesn’t matter how far you have to run for it. it’s always there. It’s the brotherhood we have together. ”
McKennie could wreak even more havoc across the field if Leeds maintain the double pivot of Roca and Adams and all signs point to it. After being asked to do this, I’m sure you’ll be thrilled with the idea.
McKennie also looks better suited for the Premier League than Serie A. His energy will be put to better use in England than in Italy.
However, his addition could see Leeds morph into a more 4-3-3, similar to how the USMNT play. In that scenario, at one point he had all three Americans starting together in central his midfield, with Adams behind McKennie and Aaronson making an appointment in America as seen in his viewing. may become.
Regardless of how Marsh positions him, McKennie seems to be in a place where he has more freedom to become who he wants to be as a player. Likely to be a big piece in the already pretty familiar Leeds midfield.
As a matter of fact, the best version of McKennie we’ve seen comes with Adams as a safety blanket, and the best version of Adams we’ve seen comes with McKennie as an all-action running mate .
The pair already have plenty of memorable moments dating back to their days as youth players. Big games, big goals, big tackles, lots of trash talk, and maybe Lots of hilarious content from the Leeds social media team.
Years of experience allow the two to play well with each other on and off the field. USMNT’s most lovable comedy duo take on the Premier League. Who knows what kind of chaos they will cause next.
