London giants Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham are set to go head to head in the race to sign Juventus star Weston McKennie in January.
According to Calciomercato, Weston McKennie could be on the verge of a move away from Juventus in the upcoming January transfer window. The player is ready to pack his bags and is set to cost around €30 million.
Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United have already registered their interest in signing the midfielder, who was brought in from FC Schalke permanently last summer.
Unfortunately for him, the departure of Andrea Pirlo and a rather mediocre second season in Turin has seen him fall out of favour under new coach Massimiliano Allegri. The Italian tactician has opted to put his faith in older, more experienced alternatives in the likes of Adrien Rabiot, Rodrigo Bentancur and new signing Manuel Locatelli.
As such, the American international has only racked up four starting appearances for Juventus thus far, falling behind in the pecking order. But it appears Tottenham and West Ham are prepared to give him an opportunity to revive his career by joining the Premier League in January.
Spurs are believed to be in the market for a new midfielder who can offer the creativity alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, following a difficult start to the campaign. They are already tipped to offload Harry Winks in January, so the addition of McKennie could make sense for all parties involved.
As for West Ham, they are eying midfield reinforcements amid the uncertainty surrounding the future of Declan Rice. Although the highly-rated Englishman is set to spend the 2021/22 campaign at London Stadium, it appears coach David Moyes is preparing for life without him and the potential signing of McKennie could be a step in the right direction.
The former Schalke prodigy is not a direct replacement for Rice. But he can certainly be an excellent fit alongside Tomas Soucek, providing Moyes with a perfect combination of attack and defence. Tottenham, too, could enjoy a similar balance should they deploy McKennie and Hojbjerg in midfield.
A fee of €30 million sounds like a bargain as well, especially for a player who has shown tremendous promise and has the potential to become one of the biggest footballing stars in North America. However, it will be interesting to see how Juventus deal with this situation, as they are not in any immediate need of offloading Weston McKennie at the moment, despite his early-season struggles.
