A few months ago, hardly a week went by without Weston McKennie talking to his US national team-mate Christian Pulisic. This winter, the line has gone cold but it’s nothing to do with a falling out of any sort.
The Schalke midfielder has kept radio silence as a matter of professional courtesy, he tells The Athletic. “Christian is in the middle of the season, doing his thing with Chelsea, and unlike us, he doesn’t get a winter break. I can’t phone him during my vacation and show him the pool and the beach and the hotel while he’s over there in cloudy London. Nobody wants to hear that.”
That’s very considerate towards the former Borussia Dortmund winger, if perhaps not the whole truth. As it turns out, McKennie couldn’t really show off the practical benefits of the Bundesliga’s four-week hiatus to his Premier League-based buddy, even he had been mischievously inclined that way.
“My phone broke during the holidays in the Maldives. I went five days without one,” he explains.
Did he drop it in the sea by mistake?
“I wish it was like that but it was a little bit dumber than that. I took the phone and purposely went underwater to take video.”
You didn’t…!
“I thought it was waterproof. It obviously wasn’t. Maybe that was a sign — ‘just put your phone away!’”
This whole story is classic McKennie, one of the most genuine, funniest and laid-back footballers you could hope to meet. He is getting better and better on the pitch as well, establishing himself as the focal point of Schalke’s midfield in his third full season with the seniors. Only a couple of injuries have stopped him appearing in every single league game. Unsurprisingly, they all love him in Gelsenkirchen. “He’s a top lad, a dream to work with,” manager David Wagner says.
We meet at the start of the club’s winter training camp near Murcia in southern Spain. Schalke have based themselves in a provincial golf and spa hotel that doesn’t provide many options for interesting downtime but it’s sunny and everyone is smiling, and happy to do exhausting double sessions, as the first half of the season has gone so much better than expected for a team that finished 14th last time.
Wagner’s side will restart the campaign on Friday night against Borussia Monchengladbach in fifth spot, only seven points off leaders RB Leipzig. It’s all a far cry from the scenes in the spring, when the team were regularly forced to apologise in front of swathes of angry ultra supporters after defeats at home. Under Wagner, Schalke have transformed from a dull, defensive outfit struggling to create chances into an aggressive side who enthuse their supporters and achieve decent results once more.
“The atmosphere has definitely changed,” McKennie says. “We haven’t gotten one boo this season, even if we lost. The fans stand behind us. They appreciate what we do. They always cheer for us, so that’s definitely a big difference. We have come together as a team and we are confident in what we can do. I think we always give 100 per cent, even last year, but it’s a different type of 100 per cent this year. It’s more effective.”
McKennie is careful not to say anything that could be construed as a criticism of former coach Domenico Tedesco (“I never speak bad about a coach that I’ve had”) but it’s obvious that Wagner’s interpersonal skills and his past as a Schalke player himself in the mid-1990s have been key factors in turning their fortunes around.
“Wagner played at Schalke and for the (US) national team. He’s been around in this type of environment and atmosphere for quite some time. It helps him understand us and us to understand him,” says McKennie, 21. “He knows when we’re feeling tired and need an extra day off or something to look forward to, to bring out the best from everyone. That’s what makes it fun for for everyone.
“I can honestly say, last year, it wasn’t fun coming to training. The situation we were in was shit. It wasn’t nice waking up in the morning feeling bad about going to work. I’m not a morning person anyway but you know what I mean. With Wagner, we really respect what he says and we respect the whole training staff. They make a big commitment to the team and are easy to chill and vibe with. They have all made it a whole lot easier for the players to enjoy coming into training and to enjoy playing again.”
The new-found enjoyment extends to Saturday afternoons on the pitch. Wagner has drummed it into his team that they shouldn’t be afraid to play football in tight spaces. “He showed us video clips from the 3-0 defeat against Bayern Munich (in August) and said, ‘Why are you kicking the ball long?'” continues McKennie. “‘They have good players but you could take a touch here and play it to that guy’ and as a player, you think, ‘Oh, he’s right. Why did we do that?’ He has instilled that confidence in us to play football against any team, no matter who. He’s made soccer fun for us again. And that’s the whole point, isn’t it? To have fun and try to win games.”
Wagner’s particular brand of fun, as supporters of Huddersfield Town can testify, comes with plenty of sweat and an exhausting pressing regime. But even that side to their game has proved pleasurable, McKennie reveals. “You see one person running and then you look around and everyone starts running. It’s contagious. You’re working for me and I’m working for you. You feel part of a brotherhood. We might not have a super big-name player but we don’t need one because of the way we work and the good chemistry.”
Having joined Schalke’s academy as a teenager from Major League Soccer side FC Dallas in 2016, McKennie has been around long enough to understand the former mining town’s strong working-class ethic demands full commitment from the players. Wagner’s football fits Gelsenkirchen’s psyche, and fans and supporters feel as one once more as result.
“This club is built on hard work,” says the United States international. “They choose coaches with a similar philosophy. I said to (Michael) Gregoritsch (the newly-arrived striker who is on loan from Augsburg), ‘Do you run a lot?’ and he’s like, ‘No, not really’. I told him, ‘Well, you’re going to!’
“I promise you with everything I love — every single player that has come to Schalke from another team has either gotten better or put in more tackles or has run more.”
McKennie has noticed a difference in his own attitude since Wagner, 48, took over in the summer, too — he’s made him more aware of the need for constant improvement.
“He’s not a person who just blows smoke up your ass, nor is he someone who tells you to do something just for the sake of it,” the midfielder says. “He’s had one-on-one talks with me and he’s told me about his past and what he struggled with as a player. He sees that I go through some of the same problems, say, with my weight. I try to keep it under a certain level, there’s a goal that I want to keep, and he helps me towards that goal by giving me little incentives or making it a competition. Little games like that. Fun.
“There’s no, ‘You have to do this.’ He just explains, in a very personable way, what I have to do if I want to get ahead and go from this level to the next one: being a bit more professional, coming in for extra treatment or staying for some extra time in the gym. ‘Get this thing right, focus, and you’ll get there.’ He’s been a really, really big help for me personally and I can say he’s done the same thing for many other players as well.”
Getting pushed out of his positional comfort zone in front of the defence has again been a part of his footballing education this season. McKennie’s versatility, borne by athleticism and a keen intelligence, has seen him employed in a variety of roles over the last couple of years, and the latter stages of 2019 saw him deputise as a centre-back once more.
“Nobody wants to play out of position but I kind of had to,” he says. “The team had all centre-backs out injured, and I was the only guy who knew to play there. I couldn’t be selfish. Hopefully, the guys will come back in the second half of the season.”
Does he sometimes fear this adaptability will count against him in the long run, or is the exposure to different roles ultimately beneficial for his development?
“It’s both. You have your James Milners of the world who still play for top clubs and play many positions as well. He’s a workhorse, and that’s kind of how I am. I’m a workhorse. Teams look at you say, ‘OK, he can play many positions. He is a utility player.’ That’s good, of course. The downside is that you don’t want to be the guy who’s there to fill positions for others when there’s a need. I might be good at many positions but I want to be great at one. I want to be the guy who’s playing because I’m the best in my position.”
McKennie’s 2019-20 is shaping up as key season in that respect — he is getting closer to the point where a Schalke midfield without him would seem somehow deficient. His club, too, look set to make huge inroads, much more quickly than anticipated.
“I don’t want to speak too soon but at the beginning of the season, I said that we wanted to compete for top four, top five — to be in Europe,” he smiles. “And everyone, every time said, ‘Don’t you think that’s going a little too far? Maybe mid-table?’ but no — Schalke are meant to be up there.
“I’ll be damned if we were down where they were last year again. It’s not where we belong. Honestly, this is just the starting point of how he wants us to play. I believe the second half of season could be even better. We had a really, really good first half the season and I don’t think we plan on stopping until we reach the goals we want to reach.”
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