Weston McKennie signs with Schalke

Weston McKennie signs with Schalke
by J.R. Eskilson
August 30, 2016

U.S. U20 Men’s National Team midfielder Weston McKennie signed with Schalke 04, the German club announced on Tuesday. McKennie, who turned 18 years old on Aug. 28, becomes the second U.S. player to join the club this year after Haji Wright inked his deal in April. Wright has four assists in 180 minutes for the Schalke U19 team this season

McKennie looks set to join Wright on that youth squad. The midfielder was the captain of the Schalke U19 group during the Evonik Ruhr Cup in August. He was one of three U.S. players on the roster alongside Wright and Nicholas Taitague. McKennie and company finished in fourth at the 2016 Ruhr Cup. 

After the tournament, he joined up with the U.S. U19 MNT squad for the COTIF Tournament in Spain. McKennie was handed the captain’s armband for that event as well. According to those around the team, he was by the far the most impressive player in training as well as the games for the U.S. squad, which exited the event in pool play after losing to Bahrain 3-1. McKennie led the U.S. U19 MNT to the championship at the Slovakia Cup in April. He was named Player of the Tournament at the Slovakia Cup. 

McKennie’s history with the youth national teams is not limited to recent tournaments. He first featured with the U14 Boys National Team in 2012 and has been around the program ever since. He was one of the last players cut from the U.S. U17 MNT for the 2015 U17 World Cup in Chile, a curious decision at the time and a foolish one in retrospect. Now, he looks like a prized prospect of the youth program and probably on the fast track for a look with the full national team before the next World Cup in 2018. 

At the club level, McKennie has been with FC Dallas for a number of years. He was the driving force of the club last season when FC Dallas U16 won the 2015 Development Academy National Championship. He was offered a Homegrown Contract with the local team, but the interest and offer from abroad proved to be too much to match. 

Sources have indicated that McKennie’s contract is one of the most lucrative for a U.S. youth player. The financial terms and length of the deal were enough for his family and him to decide to bypass University of Virginia’s scholarship, and immediately join the professional ranks. 

McKennie’s potential puts him in discussion with fellow U.S. National Teamer Christian Pulisic, who made the jump from Borussia Dortmund’s youth teams to the full team within his first year at the club. McKennie is highly thought of at Schalke and quickly made an impression on everyone at the club during his training stints in Germany including famed youth coach Norbert Elgert. 

Elgert, the Schalke U19 head coach, has been credited with developing many of the promising talents in the German national team pipeline now. Elgert will have two of the USA’s full national team prospects under his guidance this season, which is a promising development for fans of the Stars and Stripes. 

Schalke U19 returns to action in the Bundesliga Youth League on Sept. 11 against Borussia Monchengladbach, which should be McKennie’s official debut with the club. 

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