Former Leeds United loanee Weston McKennie admitted that he was not in the best shape during his time at his club and that played a part in his poor performances.
The 25-year-old was a winter signing, arriving from Juventus as Jesse Marsch sought reinforcements for the second half of the season. However, just days after McKennie was unveiled as a new signing, the American coach was sacked.
The midfielder was brought in to partner Tyler Adams, but the USMNT captain struggled with injury and the duo played just seven times together. McKennie featured in 19 Premier league games and failed to score a goal or provide an assist. Leeds opted out of activating his £30million release clause after the club were relegated.
Speaking on American Dream podcast, the midfielder blamed a lack of regular minutes for his poor loan spell:
“I’m not one to make excuses at all but I don’t think my physical fitness was the best because I was so used to being at Juventus and playing every three days,”
“Game fitness is so different to training fitness for me. I become game fit by playing games and you can’t replicate that in training.
“You can try, but I can’t do that. Playing one game a week, I didn’t feel I was in the best shape in terms of being able to last a 90-minute game.”
