Weston McKennie reveals weight struggles, coach’s severe rebukes and snacking habit before World Cup
The Kryptonite That Nearly Grounded a World Cup Dream
Weston McKennie has spent much of his career grappling with an adversary he cannot outrun, outpass or outthink on the pitch. “My weight, for me, it’s always been my kryptonite,” the United States and Juventus midfielder admitted in the first episode of the Tubi docuseries Destination World Cup 2026, which premiered on 30 April. The confession came as McKennie hosted a family barbecue at the start of his offseason, then watched his loved ones tuck into “chicken wings and burgers and hot dogs and nachos” while he began a three-day fast. “It was hard,” he said, acknowledging the difficulty of abstaining whilst those around him indulged.
The admission is hardly out of character. “Every single coach that I’ve had has always arrived and [said], ‘West, you need to lose weight.’ It’s not a secret,” McKennie told the docuseries. That refrain has followed him from Schalke 04 to Juventus, across a loan spell at Leeds United and back to Turin. The most forceful intervention came from Igor Tudor, the former Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur head coach who took over at the Allianz Stadium in March 2025. In an interview with TNT last October, McKennie recalled Tudor’s blunt warning: “You’re getting older, and your body’s not gonna be able to bounce back from games the way that you used to be able to, and you need to cut down some weight, and that’s the only way you’re gonna be involved with this team.” Tudor, a former Juventus player and assistant coach under Andrea Pirlo, is known for his demanding style – a reputation that later contributed to a brief and unsuccessful spell at Tottenham, which ended in March 2026.
The Lifestyle Overhaul That Turned His Season Around
The message landed. McKennie told TNT he responded by putting his “head down and worked like I usually do. Got on a diet. Don’t snack as much anymore. If I do, it’s healthy snacks, and I work out more often. So that’s what I’ve been doing, a lot of running.” The results were quantifiable: over the summer of 2025, McKennie shed approximately eight kilograms (around 17.6 pounds). The transformation went beyond the training ground – he later noted that it was the first summer he “didn’t mind taking his shirt off at the pool.”
Since then, McKennie has maintained those dietary guardrails through the season, as he explained to Forbes. “Throughout my career, nutrition’s been important for me, and in sports it’s such a huge factor,” he said. “It wasn’t until recent years that I realised that my body won’t just be able to pick up and go eating whatever I want. I’m a big snacker, as I am sure a lot of young people are. But I was trying to find more healthy snacks, rather than just eating candy and chocolate bars.” That shift, he added, “has been a big benefit, and maybe why I’ve been able to change and thrive throughout this season so far. I’ve paid a lot more attention to my nutrition.”
The change has been central to the best season of his professional career. McKennie has managed a career-best nine goals and eight assists across 45 matches for Juventus, including four goals in the UEFA Champions League. His form has also carried over to international duty: he scored one of the United States’ two goals in a devastating 5-2 loss to Belgium in Atlanta in March.
His club recognised his value by handing him a contract extension that runs until 30 June 2030, increasing his annual salary from €2.5 million to €4 million. Over 220 appearances for Juventus, McKennie has contributed 26 goals and 26 assists. Since the appointment of current coach Luciano Spalletti in October 2025, he has scored eight goals, often deployed in advanced roles – even as a striker – because of his versatility. Spalletti values that adaptability, and McKennie has described himself as a “Swiss Army knife” capable of playing any outfield position except centre-back.
That versatility has also been weaponised under USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino, who has evolved McKennie from a traditional box-to-box midfielder into a more advanced playmaker, often used as a No. 10. Pochettino is said to admire McKennie’s high work rate and adaptability.
A World Cup on Home Soil and a Father’s Legacy
McKennie’s three remaining Serie A matches with Juventus end on 24 May. After that, he will rejoin the USMNT for friendlies against Senegal and Germany before the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July. The Americans open their campaign against Paraguay on 12 June at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, with further group stage matches in Seattle and back in Los Angeles.
McKennie already has World Cup experience, having played in Qatar in 2022, and he knows the tournament is a “different monster” compared to routine internationals. The six-part docuseries Destination World Cup 2026 – which also features Spain’s Marc Cucurella and Wales’s Harry Wilson – offers an inside look at the contrasting pressures of hosting on home soil, carrying championship expectations and battling to qualify.
A broader personal context shapes McKennie’s ability to adapt. His father was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, and the family moved frequently, including a three-year posting in Germany. That upbringing, he has said, taught him how to connect with people and handle change. It is the same quality that has allowed a player who once allegedly sneaked out of a USMNT camp to meet a girlfriend – and later sneaked her into the team hotel – to discipline his diet, drop nearly 18 pounds, and become one of Juventus’ most reliable performers. The same quality that, ahead of the biggest matches of his life, has turned his kryptonite into a source of strength.
