Weston McKennie has spoken out about his time at Leeds United and the American may have hinted why a deal with Aston Villa did not materialise.
Aston Villa are bracing themselves to lose midfielder Douglas Luiz with Juventus pursuing a deal for the former Manchester City midfielder.
Due to the financial problems that most European sides are experiencing at this moment in time, the Italian giants can only afford a smaller fee but HITC reported they have offered two players.
Enzo Barrenchea and Samuel Iling-Junior are the players who have offered but the original offer from The Old Lady contained American midfielder Weston McKennie.
McKennie’s Leeds comments hint at why Villa deal collapsed
HITC reported that the deal for the American midfielder fell through because the Midlands club could not come to an agreement on personal terms.
In an interview with The Athletic, the American midfielder opened up about his previous spell at Leeds United and didn’t talk about it in the highest regard.
“My time at Leeds was probably one of my lower points, if not the lowest in my professional career,” says McKennie.
“I always look at the positive because I was at Juventus, playing week in and week out, and maybe I developed a little bit of comfortability or complacency, knowing I was going to play on the weekend.
“By going to Leeds and having the performance that I had there and the way that it just turned out in general — four coaches in five months (Marsch was replaced by interim coach Michael Skubala, then Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce took over), just nothing going to plan or how I imagined it.”
McKennie’s complaints on the weather
Despite saying his spell at Leeds was one of his lowest points of his career, it was what the American said about England in general which may be a hint at his feelings about the Premier League.
“If you’re in a down mood in England, it can be hard to deal with it because it’s also very bad weather most of the time,” McKennie said. “It’s rainy and gloomy and it just sets the mood for you to already be in a sad mood.”
With McKennie’s proposed move to Villa off, the Villains pivoted to Argentine midfielder Barrenchea, who was compared to Rodri and Sergio Busquets by his former manager at Frosinone.
Villa may well have dodged a bullet with not signing the American this summer for their Champions League campaign.
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