Former Leeds United loanee Weston McKennie feels he has defied his critics with his performances at Juventus this season.
McKennie was speaking in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport where he reflected on a ‘weird’ summer following his return to Turin.
The USMNT midfielder’s future at Juventus had looked all but over in January after making the move to Leeds on an initial loan deal.
At the time, Juventus were clearly happy to let him leave for good with an obligation to buy having been agreed if Leeds had secured Premier League survival.
Of course, Leeds were unable to achieve that with McKennie having become a lightning rod for criticism for his performances during his time at Elland Road.
McKennie ‘happy’ to have defied criticism
Speaking on how he has forced his way back into Max Allegri’s plans at Juventus, McKennie claimed he worked ‘very hard’ in pre-season to prove his critics wrong.
He said: “Football is weird sometimes. I strongly wanted to stay in Turin to prove to be able to make a difference at this level and worked very hard during the pre-season preparation. I don’t hide from the doubts or criticism. They motivate me even more. I’m happy to have responded.”
It is a shame McKennie’s critics at Leeds didn’t motivate him ‘even more’ considering his performances just seemed to get worse and worse over the season.
That said, clearly he was able to show something in the summer to Allegri that we did not see when he was in the Premier League to have played as much as he has for Juventus.
It did at one point look certain as though he would be moving on again so fair play to him for forcing his way back into the side like he has done.
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