da pinup bet： Weston McKennie has formed part of a wing-back experiment at Juventus, but he considers the “number eight” role to be his best position.

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Versatility being put to good useMore at home in the middleOut to impress with club & countryWHAT HAPPENED?

The United States international was returned to a central role by the Bianconeri for their last Serie A outing against derby rivals Torino. Prior to that, he had spent several weeks competing with USMNT team-mate Tim Weah for a place on the right flank.

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McKennie is now away with his country ahead of friendly dates with Germany and Ghana, and the 25-year-old has told reporters when asked about the position he feels most at home filling: “I see myself as a number eight, I like to be in the middle of the action both when attacking and defending. Honestly, for me the best thing is to have freedom at a tactical level. I think I’m a player who has a good sense of position and knows how to be in the right place. In the national team we have a good counterbalance with several versatile players capable of doing many things.”

WHAT THEY SAID

McKennie is now one of several American stars in Italian football – having been joined by Weah at Juve, while Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah are at AC Milan. McKennie added on the benefits of pooling talent in one place: “Yes, it’s a very nice thing for American football but right now we’re focused on the two friendlies we’re about to play, we’re just talking about how to overcome the time zone problems as soon as possible. We’ll certainly start talking about that on the flight back to Italy.”

GettyWHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

McKennie appeared destined to sever ties with Juve at one stage over the summer, having spent the second-half of last season suffering relegation out of the Premier League at Leeds, but he has played his way back into form and favour and may yet earn a contract extension in Turin.