As the speculation over the future of US men's national team midfielder Weston McKennie continues, Southampton is the latest club reported to have made a transfer bid, and according to German outlet Bild has offered a fee of $26 million (or €22 million) to Schalke 04 for the 21-year-old.
The offer is reportedly "acceptable" to Schalke and a couple million above his market value, writes Transfermarkt, and more than Bild reported Hertha Berlin was reportedly willing to pay with an offer reported last week.
A move to Southampton would also honor McKennie's stated wishes to play in the Premier League, albeit not for a club that qualified for European competition this coming season.
The proposed fee would make McKennie the fifth-most-expensive departure in Schalke's club history, and go some way to the club's apparent desire to decrease its expenses following a disappointing 2019-2020 Bundesliga campaign.
While McKennie enjoyed a bit of a breakout, making 32 appearances (26 starts) and scoring three goals across all competitions, Schalke floundered to a 12th-place finish. That meant they would miss out on European competition for a second consecutive season.