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The end of the last Bundesliga season brought great hope for two Americans at Schalke 04 as Weston McKennie and Haji Wright were promoted for the season finale and beyond. However, things change quickly in the world of soccer and especially in a top league. The manager who made those decisions, Markus Weinzierl, was relieved of his duties and replaced by 31-year-old Domenico Tedesco, thus leaving the American duo’s future in doubt.
The good news is, it sounds like both youngsters will still get their chance to impress the new first-team manager. He told ESPNFC that McKennie and Wright will both remain in the first-team’s plans while he can evaluate them.
"They will join us for now but, as is the case for all others, I need to see how they work.
"If I come to the conclusion by then that a player won't help us, I will be honest and ask him to find a different solution for the sake of his personal development.” — Domenico Tedesco; Source: ESPNFC
Obviously, playing for the manager that made the initial decisions to promote you would be the more ideal situation. At least it sounds like both will have a fair chance to win their spots. They’ll just need to use the talents that caught the previous manager’s eye to impress the new one.
McKennie made his Bundesliga debut in that final match, coming on for a 20-minute runout. Wright made the bench but didn’t play. Another American, Nick Taitague, is still in the club’s youth system fighting for the same chance that the other two will get.