According to The Athletic, Leeds United will trigger Weston McKennie’s £30m option-to-buy clause if they manage to stay in the Premier League this season.
McKennie, of course, signed for Leeds on loan towards the end of the January transfer window, and his stay in West Yorkshire may well be extended come the end of the season.
The signing of McKennie was a statement of intent by Leeds and demonstrated their ambition to keep themselves in the Premier League by signing a top-quality midfielder from Juventus. His loan move was seen as something of a coup after he was courted by both Tottenham and Arsenal in recent months.
McKennie was a standout player at the World Cup for the USA, where he showed against England that he’s more than ready to take the Premier League by storm.
The report from The Athletic will likely be well-received by Leeds fans who were brimming with excitement when McKennie joined on loan.
Of course, this move hinges on Leeds actually managing to stay up, and given how poor they have been this season, that isn’t guaranteed.
The Premier League is a tough division, and after the likes of Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Southampton all strengthened in January, the relegation dogfight has gotten a lot tougher.
Leeds will be hoping that they can avoid the drop this season and continue to build towards becoming an established club at this level, and adding a talent like McKennie to their side on a full-time basis is most-certainly a step in the right direction.
Whether or not Leeds stay up remains to be seen, but if they do, it looks as though their first signing of the summer will be the Juventus ‘superstar’.
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