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Report: Newcastle finalizing transfer for Yedlin (UPDATED)

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Another round of rumors are swirling around the Deandre Yedlin.

The Daily Mail reported that both Newcastle United and Aston Villa of the English Football Championship have placed bids of £5 million for the Tottenham fullback, who is seeking regular first team football this season.

(UPDATE: According to Goal USA, Yedlin’s move to Newcastle is nearing completion. The defender is reportedly set to join the Championship club on a permanent transfer worth £5 million and was spotted at a local airport on Tuesday ahead of a medical.)

Given the deep depth chart of Tottenham at right back and following last year’s successful loan spell at Sunderland, a move seems inevitable for the U.S. Men’s National Team starter, but his destination has remained unknown to this point.

Newcastle United are reportedly gearing up for the expected departure of fullback Daryl Janmaat, targeted by both West Ham and Napoli.

Prior to Tuesday’s developments, it was also reported that both Hull City, Sunderland and Derby were interested in the services of Yedlin.

Which destination do you think would be best for Yedlin? How will he fare at Newcastle?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Could turn out to be the ideal move for Yedlin – become an integral part of a team that moves back into the premiership next year. I’m hopeful because of Benítez.

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  2. Is the Championship really any better than MLS?

    I know, I know, Eurosnobs…but I’ve seen plenty of imports from the Championship struggle in MLS, and I have been surprised at times how unathletic some of the guys playing in the Championship really are.

    Honestly, I think there’s really only 5 or 6 truly “elite” squads in the EPL, another 10 or so that are a cut above…but when you get to the bottom quarter of the EPL to about the top half of the English League One, I see about 30 or so squads that are basically in a muddle…and basically MLS level. The bottom of League One and League Two aren’t any better than the NASL. Just my opinion, anyhow.

    Yedlin was dominant in Seattle; he’ll dominate at Newcastle in the Championship too. Won’t really even be that hard for him, IMHO.

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    • I watch a lot of soccer. I watch MLS, EPL, La Liga/Primera Division, Ligue 1 , Bundesliga, Liga MX & Championship. There are definitely a few players (on average) in each MLS team who could make squads in some of these leagues. However, the issue is squad depth and quality — thus competition/improvement. The Championship is not as good as the EPL, but the squad depth and quality of the Championship is much higher than you think. Bradley Wright-Philips couldn’t hack it in the Championship (and was,at best, a squad player), but he is tearing it up in MLS to the same degree he tore up League One!!!

      The better MLS teams really run about 13 or so deep in terms or relative quality players. The better Championship squads are 20/23 deep. There is a huge drop of in squad quality between top of Championship and bottom of Chmapionship which is why I think most MLS squads are (in terms of their preferred starting 11) around the bottom of the Championship with the best being mid-table (in terms of starting 11 not squad depth where MLS is much weaker).

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      • England overpays for players. In some cases they RADICALLY overpay. In contrast MLS is on a shoestring budget. Even in the Championship, the money is so much better they just pay. But the problem is the respective pools they’re dipping from. They’re dipping from established Euro leagues if they’re importing, and their domestic wage structure is completely out of whack for even mediocre players.

        England is also vicious towards players. The problem with Bradley Wright-Phillips was never talent, but the fact that he’s a head case and more than a bit shaky psychologically at times. He’s gone on stretches where he couldn’t find the back of the net at Red Bulls with a map too. The difference in, in England he would have been hounded, harassed, and harried by fans and press until he melted down (which he did, everywhere he landed, eventually), but at Red Bulls the fans, press, and team never turned on him and he’d recover. A confident Bradley Wright-Phillips can score against Bayern Munich…which he did, to great effect, in the All-Star game a couple years back. That wasn’t luck, he really was that good. That day, anyhow.

        MLS in contrast has to be incredibly frugal and stretch its budget ridiculously, and we’re shopping the FAR corners of Central America and the Carribean for talent. $100K buys you one serious Central American or Islander soccer player…the same $100K wouldn’t even be a decent bonus for a comparable Euro-league player. Consider also that DeAndre Yedlin, for instance was making $90K for Seattle…and millions for Tottenham. He’s being sold, apparently, $5 million to play for Newcastle. Did he suddenly get that much better in two years?

        I agree that a Championship squad is probably deeper than an MLS team…however, that’s balanced out by the existence of DP’s. There are players in MLS who are true difference-makers, and considering the elite English players have relegation clauses in their contracts and get sold the second a team drops, you just don’t see them in the Championship.

        And again, I’ve been shocked at how unathletic some of the championship guys are. They’re technical, mind you, but unless you’re just a jock it’s not a good idea to jump from Championship to MLS; the athletic level is higher and more physical, and you’ll usually make substantially less unless you’re one of those odd ducks like Wright-Phillips who had Premier-level athleticism, just not the mentality.

  3. Here is my big problem with the Championship – it is a very high paying 2nd tier league, so it can easily become a trap. Your odds of getting to the Prem are actually much smaller than most people think. Only 3 of 24 teams get promoted each year and most Prem/Bundesliga teams won’t buy Championship players unless they are young (<25) and just clearly dominant. And because of the relatively high salary, it's usually not worth it for the players to jump to Ligue 1, Eredivisie or other leagues that are (in my opinion) better leagues with a more interesting style of soccer. In short, this is probably great for Deandre's finances, good for his career if he is only in the Championship for 1-2 years (10-20% chance??), and bad for his career if he ends up a lifelong Championship player (80-90%). See also – Tim Ream, Danny Williams, Zak Whitbread, etc

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    • “most Prem/Bundesliga teams won’t buy Championship players unless they are young (<25) and just clearly dominant"

      So there's no chance yedlin becomes a player that meets these criteria? He's under 25 and could definitely develop into a dominant fullback…. Sooooooooo………

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      • problem is, “dominating” isn’t as simple as being good (or even really good) at his position. most of how a player is perceived depends on the teammates around him. if the team is playing poorly or the system is a bad fit, it’s hard for him to look good. (you would understand this more than most, having watched jozy at sunderland.)

        while i think yedlin turned out to be an epl-caliber fullback by the end of last season, i think it’s more likely that newcastle gets promoted this season, than yedlin showing well enough in the championship for an epl team to pick him up (excepting a buyback clause with spurs).

    • I share your concern. I would add that perhaps people forget that Danny Williams was playing in the Bundesliga before he moved to England. And while he played well last year and there were rumors about him getting picked up by an EPL team, there he is still in the Championship. Lichaj and Spector are also players who played in the Premier League, then went down and have stayed down. I know Newcastle is a big club, but if they don’t get promotion next year, Yedlin could get stuck at that level. He should go to an EPL team, no matter how bad they are(assuming you are a starter, of course). It’s easier to get picked up from an EPL team going down than it is from a Championship team not promoted, at least this is what i have observed. I think this is because you have already demonstrated that you can play at this level while there are doubts if you have been playing in the Championship..

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  4. Anyone know how much Tottenham paid for him?

    The comments that I read from Moyes were decidedly lukewarm about Yedlin, so I’m not sure if Sunderland ever had any real interest.

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    • Eh. Moyes wouldn’t have been looking if he didn’t see value. Common practice- not in the best interest while negotiating a transfer/fee to overly sing the praises of a player. Maybe better to appear lukewarm/at the right bargain rate we’d be glad to take him off your hands. Which in turn magically transforms to optimistic praise when presented to supporters on signing day.

      The move to Newcastle although in the CL is pretty comparable to Sunderland in the long run. Could very well flip places in a year and if he is seeing the field week in, week out w/ Newcastle, will continue his development.

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  5. Newcastle, where they draw 50k+ and can’t field a team that can even stay up, much less try to win.

    The pissing away of what Yedlin could have been….Part II

    I wonder how many years before we have it so players don’t have to go to England for the paycheck? Make it soon people, support soccer in the US.

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    • Did you see any of Newcastle’s matches last season? I remember they had a good attacking team but lacked gritty players and after looking at their results of last year, it showed against the lesser teams. i.e., teams they were expected to beat but lost. They got wins and draws from the better teams but against lowly teams they lost, and they is how they were relegated.

      Seems the top quality players they have lacked grit, determination and not motivated playing against the lower teams.

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    • Championship> MLS, and Newcastle is bigger than any team in the US so i dont see how this is a bad move for him. And if you want the product of MLS to improve you best hope Yedlin succeeds in England, it would provide a major boost to MLS’ perception as a quality league.

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      • No one is arguing MLS V EPL. But EPL > Championshp and Yedlin can play in the EPL with more visibility. This isn’t the final destination for Yedlin, he’ll move again, might as well move to a team in the premier league.

  6. Man, you’ve got to be such a kill joy to be around. Always the same negative smart a** comments. Always…
    Anyways good luck to yedlin.

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    • Rob has not yet quite grasped that people actually keep track of these things called “statistics” that are then verifiable “facts.” He’s just been assuming that the “numbers” people keep referring to are random.

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  7. The major positive that I’m surprised nobody is mentioning is that Benitez is a very, very defensively astute manager. The fact that he sought out Yedlin is a very good thing for yedlin – this is no Big Sam, and big Sam is highly respected. Rafa is a big time manager. Yedlin will defend, or he will be dropped. I don’t think he intends to drop a newly purchased fullback, so my guess is he’s going to defend. And THEN get forward, probably with more consistency than he showed at Sunderland. Could be another year of growth for Yedlin.

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  8. New Castle isn’t bad and will most likely win the Championship this year. They have tons of resources. Being in a promotion battle is not a bad thing and the quality at the top of the Championship is very good. Is it just quite a bit harder to watch him on tv!

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    • Newcastle is not just any club in the Championship. They have too many resources to not go immediately back up.

      Any (ambitious) player would be crazy to down turn a big club like that.

      Yedlin, have you seen the movie Goal! ? LOL Santiago Munez

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      • and Sunderland will finally be relegated hopefully this year. its a pretty even rivalry but I would say over the next 5 years Newcastle has to be the more optimistic side in the Tyne-wear rivalry.

        for Yedlin, I don’t think playing for a league leading Championship side is a problem at all this year. we have so many guys that play for bottom of the table teams, and the Championship is a great league. i can see him really continuing to improve with this move.

      • First time I have wvr said this, but you sir win the internet for me today. Santiago Munez??? I’m dying haha really well played

      • Didn’t Newcastle also have “too many resources to go down?” And yet here they are.

      • This isn’t Alan Shearer’s Newcastle here. This is Mike Ashley’s Newcastle. They’ve been a yo-yo since he took over. They have the potential to be a big club and have had some talent roll through but have lacked coherence or a solid plan to stay up once they get promoted. For my money though, nothing is better than St. James Park on a Saturday afternoon.

      • Yeah, I don’t like it when our players go and suffer a year in a relegation battle. Clubs in relegation battles can be quick to bench and forget a player if they can bring in someone else.

    • Everything going on with Hull right now renders it a dumpster fire.

      Hull is a toxic environment where even the manager said they have no chance of surviving, the club wasn’t given any transfer resources and the fans absolutely hate their current ownership – who are currently seeking to sell the club.

      Remember when people said Sunderland was a wasteland? Hull is likely a worse destination. As DLOA says: “L…O…L…” when people think this would be a good move.

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  9. Considering that Villa signed Richie DeLaet earlier today, I’d say there isn’t much in the rumors of Villa bidding for him. Good luck to him, though. I think a year or two in the Championship will be good for him.

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      • Ummm…the consensus amongst experts is that he played well at Sunderland last year, specifically towards the last part of the season.

      • Agree with MLSsnob here. No one is professing he was a Best Starting XI candidate at right back, but he more than proved capable and showed obvious improvement as the season rolled on.

        I think if we compiled a list of right backs in the EPL Yedlin would not be at the bottom and has sincere capability of being a full-time right back for some club at the highest division in England.

      • Newcastle are buying him because they believe he is a PL quality RB. They don’t intend to spend more than a season in the championship and didn’t just spend 5 million pounds to have him for a season.

      • Sam Allardyce was the Sunderland manager for much of the second half of the season last year. Allardyce played Yedlin consistently. Allardyce is now the manager/coach of the English national team. Allardyce has coached in the EPL for many years for a number of different teams. I think his judgment of Yedlin is more reliable than yours. Or do you have a better resume than Big Sam?

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