USMNT: Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic ridding of stigma

In a recent interview, Weston McKennie revealed that he wants to play in the Premier League. Alongside Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic, he is ridding the stigma that USMNT players face in Europe.

The U.S. Men’s National Team is growing more and more talented as the years have gone by. One of the key pieces of the squad’s future is Weston McKennie.

McKennie is an all-action midfielder. At a young age, he became an integral part of the Schalke squad. Since 2017, he has appeared in at least 20 games every season. In total, he has appeared in 83 games for the German club, with three goals and seven assists.

His experience at Schalke has been great for his development. McKennie has gotten to play against some of the best talents in the world. For the majority of his career, McKennie and Schalke have been competing towards the top of the Bundesliga table. And all of this has come without having to sit in the reserves. McKennie has played, which is vital for a young player’s progression.

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Some players would be happy and content with this. The Bundesliga a top-tier league. Schalke are a capable team within the league. But McKennie wants more. “For me, the next goal is England,” he said in a recent interview with Goal. “It has always been my dream to play in the Premier League. I want to join a club that fights for a place in Europe – the Champions League or the Europa League.”

McKennie did say that he is happy at Schake because he is getting regular minutes, but the ultimate goal is clear. And for good reason. The Premier League is the pinnacle of the sport. La Liga, the Bundesliga and even Serie also offer terrific challenges, but English football is the most marketable, watched, and highest-quality in the world. If McKennie was able to move to a major Premier League team and perform at a high level, it would be big a huge step for the USMNT and U.S. soccer.

There is still the notion that Americans can’t succeed in England. For every Tim Howard, Brad Friedel, and Clint Dempsey, there are the Jozy Altidores of the world. An American player making it in England is seen as a rarity.

The tide is starting to change. Christian Pulisic has played rather well in his first season at Chelsea. In 16 appearances this season, he has five goals and two assists and is highly thought of by manager Frank Lampard.

Then there is Tyler Adams. He is not playing in the Premier League and has missed some time due to injury this season but will be ready when the Bundesliga starts up next week and is semi-regularly playing for a title-chasing team that is already in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

In fact, the stigma against American players was something that motivated Adams to go to Europe. “Players from our club had the opportunity to go and train at RB Leipzig,” Adams recalled to Transfermarkt. “That made my ambitions that much because I wanted to prove to everybody that an American kid can be successful in Europe.”

Adams is signed with RB Leipzig until 2025 and is proving that the USMNT does have talent that can perform at the highest level in the sport. He needs to earn a regular for himself first, but he has played in big matches this season, including versus Bayern Munich and in the Champions League. Still only 21, he is in the right place for his development under one of the brightest young coaches in the game.

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If, then, McKennie can find his way to an English club like Pulisic has, the American stigma that has pervaded European football will slowly fall that little bit more. The USMNT stars are slowly beginning to change the narrative, and that can only help those that follow.

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