Christian Pulisic caused a stir this week by insisting there was an agenda against American players in European soccer.
USMNT teammate Weston McKennie agreed with the AC Milan star after years of fighting for his first-team future at Juventus.
The Italy-based duo spoke about anti-American prejudice in the wider soccer ecosystem on the Paramount+ docuseries ‘PULISIC’.
“For sure, it’s out there,” 26-year-old Pulisic said. “It p***** me off in a way.
“If it comes down to me or them and it’s a 50/50 on who’s going to play or something like that, I think it exists.”
Former Premier League star Danny Murphy, who played with US icons Clint Dempsey and Brian McBride at Fulham discussed the comments on talkSPORT show White and Jordan.
Murphy was asked about Dempsey’s insistence that Pulisic and McKennie were right.
He insisted that he saw Dempsey earn his spot on “merit.”
“What manager’s gonna deprive himself of a player who’s better than another one based on where he’s from?” Murphy asked, before suggesting that American coaches might have a case.
Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan took a dim view of Pulisic’s claims.
“Absolute nonsense. What stigma?” he began. “The Premier League has opened its arms to the far-flung corners of the world, but not the Americans. What is that about?
“You’ve had Tim Howard playing in goal for Manchester United, Kasey Keller playing in goal for Leicester. I had two American players playing for me. Gregg Berhalter, who went on to be the national team manager, and Jovan Kirovski.
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“It’s nothing to do with bias. I’ve been over in America recently watching the quality of their football and it’s c***, maybe it’s something to do with that.”
On the subject of managers, Jordan made the point that American businessmen own half of Premier League clubs, including four of the traditional “Big Six.”
“I don’t think there’s any bias, good players get in teams, average players don’t,” he added.
“Half the Premier League is owned by Americans, are you seriously telling me there’s not gonna be an American coach coming in.
“You’ve got an embarrassment of riches around the world, globally in a globalised sport with the Premier League being the absolute pinnacle of globalization.
“The American soccer coaches are not the best so they don’t get the job. It’s not bias. End of discussion. How about get better?”
Pulisic has played in Europe for 10 years, featuring in three of the biggest leagues in the world through his career with Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, and now Milan.
He has eight goals and six assists in all competitions so far this season – one of the most productive of his career.
McKennie was linked with a move away from Turin in the summer transfer window as fans and local media outfits slammed his performances.
But the 26-year-old rejected moves to the MLS and Premier League and has now won his place back under manager Thiago Motta.
“There’s definitely a bias. And it’s just something you get used to. I go through it most of the time when I’m at Juventus,” he says on the series, which was shot during his fifth season in Turin.
“Every year somehow I’m on the out and I’m ready to be discarded and then every summer it’s like I’m a new player coming in and having to make a name for myself.”
“Obviously it’s something that I count on, something that I kind of like at the same time,” McKennie he told CBS earlier this week.
“It’s missing a bit of comfortability, missing a bit of, ‘Ah I feel so important, they don’t count me out.’
“But at the same time it’s allowed me to do what I do best, which is to put my head down and work and prove people wrong. That’s what I enjoy doing.”