Heading into a busy summer, DeAndre Yedin’s club future remains uncertain, and the U.S. Men’s National Team fullback is expecting to keep his options open through this summer’s Copa America.
Bound for Miami for USMNT camp, Yedlin is fresh off of a successful relegation fight with Sunderland, who went unbeaten over the team’s final six games to seal a finish two points out of the relgation zone. In total, Yedlin made 23 appearances for Sunderland this past season.
With his loan spell with the Black Cats over, Yedlin is set to return to Tottenham, who enter 2016 with a stable core of right back options in Kyle Walker and Kierran Trippier.
In recent weeks, Yedlin has been linked with both loans and transfers away from Tottenham, with Sunderland reported to be one of various Premier League teams in pursuit of the 22-year-old fullback. Speaking to Goal USA, Yedlin says he won’t be focusing on his club situation until after this summer’s Copa America, which could prove a vital one for a player likely set to join a new club before the Premier League season.
“It’s definitely a door I would not close. I would not mind going back (to Sunderland),” Yedlin told Goal USA. “I had a great time there. I’m keeping all doors open, I don’t want to shut any right now. Any opportunity that is offered to me is a big opportunity. When you’re dealing with the Premier League, it’s still unbelievable to think that I’m playing in the Premier League.
“I don’t want to close any doors right now,” he added. “I’ll just keep my head down and perform at Copa America. Obviously if I can have a good tournament here it’ll impress a lot more people.”
Yedlin is set to join the USMNT for this weekend’s friendly against Puerto Rico and is one of 40 players on Jurgen Klinsmann’s preliminary roster for the upcoming Copa America.
Did anyone else see the dangerous crosses he put into the box over the last part of the season?
Ok he was not one of the top players but he certainly contributed to that great finish. Defensively he improved quite a bit as the season progressed.
He did put in a few nice balls, but still the knock on him is his crossing just isn’t good enough to play consistently for a team like Spurs with their current roster. If you look at Sunderland websites its really the biggest criticism of his game. He still gets caught ball watching from time to time and his dribbling at speed needs work, but his crossing seems to be the most frustrating area. Maybe, that’s because his speed covers the ball watching, but its that glorious speed that allows him to put in crosses that aren’t always very good.
Unfortunately, he is probably playing at Sunderland or somewhere else where he can’t win a championship. Why move then? Risk not playing while ‘watching’ losses? Doesn’t make much sense.
Yedlin has progressed to being a useful player, certainly not an embarrassment but certainly not one of the better players on the field, even for Sunderland. If he is to continue to improve, he needs to play every week. He will regress sitting on the bench.
Dr. Negative,
Very disappointing view. If a respected manager is picking him in the first 11 for a team that was battling for tens upon tens of millions of pounds of revenue and you don’t think that is. Impressive,….well….
Yelling has improved, but right now he could be just the next Eric Lichaj.
Christian Pulisic aside,…DeAndre Yedlin’s development into a week-in-week-out starter for an EPL club battling for its Premiership status was the biggest story on the Yanks Abroad landscape. Good for him!
Tough decision ahead. Stay at Sunderland where he has Big Sam’s confidence or move to a title contender (ahem,…cough, cough,…did I just write that?) in Spurs?
Just come back to the MLS cause this world makes no sense anymore
Sunderland were actually nice to watch during the last third of the season. They look transformed under Big Sam. Appealing football all around.
I agree. Times I saw them late in the year- they looked very lively. I get that there are hurt feelings due to the perception that Jozy was hard done there but………….. he did share not too insignificant responsibility in what transpired there.
Agreed. I think Sunderland is a much better club after the reinforcements Big Sam brought in during the January transfer window; they were clearly a much, much better team the last couple of months of the season and I would be shocked if they don’t finish at least a couple rungs higher on the table next year. With the likelihood of ample playing time and a good defensive coach running the show, I think he should think twice about leaving Sunderland
Stay with Spurs. He will play due to their to packed scheduled (CL, FA Cup, League Cup) next season. Move in January 2017 if still not getting enough playing time. Cannot stand watching Sunderland other than Defoe and Yedlin.
Van Aanholt, Khazri, Borini, M’Vila to name a few others…
Even with Spurs’ schedule, he isn’t going to play all that much if he’s 3rd choice RB. I think he has the ability to develop into a RB capable of playing for a UCL team like Spurs but he might need another year or so somewhere else. He’s a little behind on the development curve having wasting two years of prime development time in NCAA ball.
Any news on Yedlins injury?
I don’t want him to mess up a good thing by staying at (signing with) Sunderland for the long haul, but at the same time, it’d be nice to see him find a club that wasn’t consistently at risk of relegation. Any mid-table BPL clubs in need of a right back?
I actually thought him ending up at Sunderland was a good thing, maybe it took a couple injuries to give him his opportunity but he made the most of it. The relegation battle made the tail end of their season mean something and Yedlin was very much a part of their success, if you can call it that. I think Allardyce sees the potential in Yedlin and helped his confidence at the defensive end
a great deal. I also think you will see Sunderland stay up and possibly move towards the middle of the Table under Big Sam. For me I would be OK with him staying at Sunderland for a little while longer.
Let’s be real, he will sit at Spurs and even if the paycheck is better for him, he won’t do us any good sitting. Better off at a lower level more permanently.
I keep hearing this but Yedlin is still very young and a good showing at the copa will definitely get him another look at some strong clubs. I think he would prefer to stay in the EPL but if gets the right offer to move to a top table club in another league then he would be right to consider it. All that said I think he should stay at S’land no matter what for the next season at least and see if they can’t get into the top half of the table.
I hope he either signs for Sunderland or extends the loan with them. I think Sunderland are starting to put their pieces together and BSA has helped them play significantly better. My assumption is that with some player purchases over the summer, he could somewhat revamp the squad and ultimately have a mid-table to lower mid-table team that has no relegation issues (maybe even 5000:1 odds on winning the PL and doing so haha). Yedlin has gotten better and still has a lot of upward potential. Sitting won’t help, and between BSA seemingly putting his faith in Yedlin in addition to the growth we have seen from him, I think he has a good opportunity of getting that much better with BSA leading Sunderland. Now, so long as he ends up on a team that will play him frequently and a coach that can get the best out of him, it doesn’t matter too much where Yedlin goes in the PL, but preferably a team that isn’t fighting relegation on a consistent basis.