'An American? Can he play football?' - Weston McKennie proud to prove Italians wrong as Juventus midfielder flourishes in Serie A with USMNT co-stars Tim Weah, Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah

On the 19F Podcast alongside Juventus teammate Moise Kean, McKennie called out 'close-minded' Italians for not believing Americans could play top-level football in Italy. The USMNT midfielder added that he is one of six with players currently craft their trade in the country and all are successfully doing so.

“I like it because everyone [in Italy] thinks Americans only play baseball, basketball and so on. When I arrived three years and a half ago everyone was asking who I was. ‘An American? Can he play football?” he said. “Now, there are [Christian] Pulisic and [Yunus] Musah at [AC] Milan, Tanner Tessmann and Gianluca Busio in Venice, and Timothy Weah at Juventus. Now everyone knows Americans can play football.

“There are other players from Germany and Spain, but as I said before, in Italy, everyone is a bit stuck in the head like this, and maybe they didn’t know we [Americans] can also play football, not only basketball.”

In addition to the likes of McKennie, Pulisic, Weah and Musah, Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessman also craft their trade in Italy - with the recently relegated Venezia FC. However, the Venice side are in a good position to be promoted at the moment, sitting in second place behind league-leaders Parma. Essentially, Americans - as per McKennie - have arrived in Italy and proved their doubters wrong.

Juventus take on Jose Mourinho's Roma on Saturday, while AC Milan host Sassuolo in a Serie A clash. The USMNT will take center-stage in Italy, with Weah expecting to start alongside McKennie and Musah alongside Pulisic.