USA coach Gregg Berhalter admits it was a ‘difficult decision’ to dismiss Weston McKennie and insists the Juventus midfielder ‘must earn his teammates’ trust again.’
McKennie was sent home from the USA camp in September for breaking COVID protocols while on international duty.
In a first moment, it seemed that McKennie’s only violation was to have signed autographs for some fans without a mask, but according to ESPN the former Schalke man was responsible for two different violations.
McKennie reported spent a night outside of the team bubble and another in the company of an ‘unauthorised person.’
Therefore, the 23-year-old was omitted from USA’s second match of the September window against Canada and expelled before the third game against Honduras.
“First and foremost is it’s an extremely difficult situation that you’re put in,” Berhalter told Sports Illustrated.
“You know that this is one of your top players. Not only that, but he’s a great kid. Everyone really cares for Weston.
“And there’s part of it that we’ve been around long enough to know that people make mistakes. Things happen and it’s not about holding it over their head for an extended period, but there should be consequences. And that’s what we kept going back to.
“So when we learned of this, it was about just understanding first. The first thing I did is go to Weston and confronted Weston and say, ‘O.K., did this happen?’ And give him a lot of credit, he looked me in the eye and said, ‘Yes, this did happen.’
“And I said, ‘O.K. now let’s talk about what’s next.’ The first thing is this was the day of the game that we’re having this conversation and I said, ‘You’re not going to be playing this game today. And it hurts me to tell you this, but that’s how it’s going to be.’ And I think that gave us a little bit of time.
“But the next thing was where do you go from there? And then it was about talking to the staff about it and talking about what our values are as a group and what we represent,” the coach continued.
“And as we were doing that it started to become more clear what the answer was, and again it’s not to hang Weston out to dry. It’s more of a message of listen, we’re in this intense period of trying to qualify for the World Cup, we all say this is what we want to do, and we know there’s going to be sacrifices that come along with it.
“So we talked with the staff and eventually we came up with the idea that he’s not going to be taking part of any more of the camp, and we’re going to have to move on without him this trip. In the end we felt strong about the decision, we felt sad for Weston but we focused on how do we win the next game after the Canada tie, how do we turn things around and win the next game?
“We purposely didn’t go to the team and ask ‘What do you think should be done?’ Because I don’t think it’s fair to put that on the players to have to make a judgment or a ruling on another player in a circumstance like that.
“I think that’s our role as leaders. But I think from a player standpoint, for me to see that a coach is willing to act even though it may not be in his best interest and then once this is done it’s done.
So, what’s going to happen now?
“There is a period I think where he’s going to have to earn both his teammates’ and the staff’s trust again,” Berhalter said.
“And I think that’s also fair. It’s not something where you say, ‘O.K. we have amnesia, and we act like this never happened.’ It did happen, and now it’s on him to earn everybody’s trust. But it’s not like he won’t be given the opportunity to do so.”
McKennie joined Juventus from Schalke 04 on an initial loan deal in 2020.
The Old Lady made his move permanent for €18m this past March, but the price tag can raise up to €30m with bonuses.
The American midfielder’s contract in Turin expires in June 2025. Today he is expected to start in Juventus’ away clash at Spezia with the Bianconeri still looking for their first win in Serie A this season.