Schalke 04: Chill, Weston McKennie isn’t going anywhere

Schalke fans are less than pleased with Weston McKennie’s desire to go to the Premier League. Chill. He’s not leaving. And he probably never will.

Schalke Twitter was set ablaze by Weston McKennie‘s comments about his next stop being in the Premier League, and for just cause. It was just a few years ago that McKennie said that he wanted to stay in Gelsenkirchen for life.

And it was just earlier that day, before his Premier League comments, that he spoke of how he envied guys like Francesco Totti, who stay at one club their whole life, indicating that it was something he, too, would like to do.

So what we have here is a whole lot of Schalke love with a small sliver of “I have dreamt of the Premier League” wedged in the middle of it all. Which is why I’m not worried that McKennie will be leaving Die Knappen. At least not any time soon.

Weston McKennie isn’t leaving Schalke any time soon, perhaps ever

Call it intuition if you want, but 90% of what Weston McKennie says—probably more, I haven’t done the exact math—involves how much he loves Die Knappen.

If an interviewer was able to extract that McKennie has had dreams of the Premier League, that’s fine, it doesn’t mean he’s leaving tomorrow. McKennie has a shiny new contract that he signed while restating how much he loves Schalke and wants to stay here forever. That isn’t indicative of someone who wants to leave. Ever.

Compiling on that, what might lead to those dreams is the fact that both he and the team he plays for haven’t settled into any sort of consistency. McKennie has only started to hit his best on a regular basis this year and Schalke has yet to get back to where they belong, hanging around the top of the Bundesliga table.

It’s enough to get someone feeling a little antsy. Not to leave, but to think of what comes next. Plus, he’s a native English speaker and the Premier League has that, plus the allure of being “the best league in the world.” But once Die Knappen get into European competitions and McKennie starts feeling like he’s at his best, that wanderlust to be a part of something “bigger” should fade as well. Because Schalke will be that something bigger.

Don’t panic. Don’t lash out at Weston McKennie or the Schalke Twitter admin. No one is going anywhere any time soon. Or ever.