McKennie made just 20 appearances for Leeds after joining them on a short-term loan in January 2023, with relegation out of the Premier League being suffered.
He has since told The Athletic of that forgettable stint at Elland Road: “My time at Leeds was probably one of my lower points, if not the lowest in my professional career.
“I always look at the positive because I was at Juventus, playing week in and week out, and maybe I developed a little bit of comfortability or complacency, knowing I was going to play on the weekend. By going to Leeds and having the performance that I had there and the way that it just turned out in general - four coaches in five months, just nothing going to plan or how I imagined it.
“When I went there, my head was more: ‘OK, I want to go here, perform very well, put up numbers, help the team stay up and then hopefully another Premier League team, top five, comes in and sees how well I've played and then they would buy me’.”
That did not happen, but teams of that ilk may be interested now. Friedel believes they should be, adding when asked if McKennie will have an itch to scratch and a point to prove in England: “I hope so. Those are the kind of things that would grind inside of me. I hope so.
“I would love to see Wes at one of the big clubs in England and doing incredibly well, I really would. I think it is the strongest league from top to bottom right now. I think he has the talent to be able to not just compete, but to be incredibly good in it.”