Photo by Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports
By DAN KARELL
DeAndre Yedlin’s European adventure is ready to begin.
The Seattle Sounders right back, who signed a four-year contract and agreed a transfer with Tottenham last August, is expected to head to England by the end of the month, according to Sounders co-owner and general manager Adrian Hanauer.
I wouldn’t say it’s 100 percent at this point, but it seems highly, highly likely that DeAndre will get a work permit to be able to play in England. Hanauer said at the Sounders’ end of the season press conference. “He’s anticipating being able to head over to Tottenham in the middle to end of December.”
At the time of his signing, it wasn’t clear whether Yedlin would join Tottenham at the end of the 2014 MLS season or following Tottenham’s 2014/2015 English Premier League season.
Yedlin, who was named on Thursday as U.S. Soccer Young Male Athlete of the Year, broke into the Sounders first team in early in the 2013 MLS season after signing as a Homegrown Player prior to the season. Yedlin earned his first U.S. Men’s National Team call-up in Jan. 2014 for the USA’s camp in California and Brazil, and eventually made the World Cup squad. He’s since made ten appearances with the USMNT.
Here are some more reports from around the league:
SCHMID SIGNS MULTI-YEAR EXTENSION
The fan-lead #SigiOut campaign seems to have failed in making a managerial change with the Seattle Sounders.
At the end of season press conference, Adrian Hanauer stated that they’ve signed head coach Sigi Schmid to a multi-year contract extension to remain with the Sounders. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Sigi will be around for the foreseeable future. We’re very happy to have him as a coach,” Hanauer said.
In his sixth season with the club, Schmid led the Sounders to a U.S. Open Cup title and a Supporters Shield trophy, earning a place in next fall’s CONCACAF Champions League. The team also improved from their disastrous end-of-season collapse last year to record 20 wins this season, the most in the league.
DYNAMO SEARCHING FOR DEFENDER AND FORWARD SIGNINGS
The Dynamo are looking outside of the USA’s borders for a talent boom that can bring the club back into playoff contention.
New technical director Matt Jordan has already taken scouting trips to Spain and South America, and with only Alexander Lopez and Luis Garrido under contract as international players, the club have a number of international slots to work with.
“We’ve identified targets that we feel can be positive contributors to the team and we’re working through the process on each of those situations,” Jordan told MLSsoccer.com.
At the same time, the Dynamo are currently busy with their coaching search, and reports are emerging that former Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle is the front-runner for the job. The Dynamo wouldn’t confirm or deny the reports, but Jordan stated that the new signings and new coach will go “hand in hand.”
“Our focus has been working through the coaching search process,” Jordan said. “We’ve put a lot of time into that process and have been very thorough. I’ve also been traveling quite a bit to Spain and South America, and those trips have been very productive.
“The coach is an element to all of this, and that’s where our focus is right now. We have [player] options targeted, but [the head coach search] obviously goes hand in hand. The focus for us is to find players that are the right fit for the Houston Dynamo.”
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What do you think of these reports? Glad that Yedlin is moving abroad following the MLS season? Think he’ll have a chance to get minutes with Spurs in 2015? What do you think of Schmid receiving a contract extension?
Share your thoughts below.
hey eds–a typo here and there is one things, but missing quotation marks around a sentence long quote should be fixed:
[“]I wouldn’t say it’s 100 percent at this point, but it seems highly, highly likely that DeAndre will get a work permit to be able to play in England.[“]
and of course, there’s a couple of typos in my comment. siiigh.
+1
It’s a pity that Seattle decided to keep Sigi. As a LAG fan, it ruined what could have been a perfect day. Still seeing the back of DeAndre is welcome.
As a Dynamo fan I’m optimistic about Owen Coyle. Should be exciting and maybe he brings Stu Holden back!
When can I buy my Yedlin Tottenham jersey?
Can someone please explain to me why Seattle fans wanted Sigi gone?
Because when a fan base feels that their team has sufficient talent and resources to win a championship but don’t, they become irrationally angry, and that is usually directed at the coach. When it happens multiple times, things start getting really hairy. This happens on a yearly basis in SEC football (and most other sports leagues).
It seems this could be summed into one word – entitlement
I don’t see why you’d want to try to sum it all up like that. Awfully careless summary.
If you were trying to be accurate and fair with your judgment, then you could use the word “expectation.” Benjamin C gave a reasonable answer to your question (although I don’t completely agree with him), but it’s not clear to me that your question was genuine.
I think expectation is a fairly rosy spin on those calling for Sigi’s head. The line separating expecting a treble and entitlement is awfully slim.
I say this as a Seattle fan who was disappointed with the playoff exit, but still see a very strong body of work from a good coach. I just get the feeling from those particularly loud voices blaming Sigi feel that Seattle’s success from an organization perspective means that we should waltz our way to a title. In reality, it’s much much harder.
+1
james, I think I’m misreading you. Your first question was “Can someone please explain to me why Seattle fans wanted Sigi gone?”
This more recent comment significantly changes how I read your question: “I think ‘expectation’ is a fairly rosy spin on those calling for Sigi’s head.”
I completely agree with you that there are some fans who express entitlement and/or rabid lunacy when it comes to Sigi. I just don’t think it’s accurate to characterize all fans who are critical of Sigi that way.
You said you were “disappointed.” That’s a good word. Some of that disappointment can fairly be directed at Sigi, no?
Benjamin C: I mostly agree, but I wouldn’t say that all Seattle fans who want Sigi out are “irrationally angry.” I would say that many are being quite rational when they point out his shortcomings and wish for a different coach (although, who that would be is anyone’s guess). Last year, Sigi started Shalrie Joseph as a lone striker—you think fans are irrationally angry over that craziness? This year, Sigi seemed to have only one game plan for every match; again, it’s not irrational for fans to hope for a coach who demonstrates more creativity than…well, than the average fan.
Winning a double is a shortcoming? Really? Even though Seattle Sounders FC has only been in existence for 7 years? Unless I’ve read your comment wrong. What shortcomings? Tactical? Player management?
Nico, first let’s agree that someone can do well and still have shortcomings. Or, to turn your comment around, “winning a double equals perfection? really?”
Second, I answered your “What shortcomings? Tactical?” questions in my comment:
“started Shalrie Joseph…only one game plan for every match….”
Third, I worry that several teams (e.g., Vancouver, Dallas) figured out how to negate Sigi’s attack, but Sigi keeps to the same plan. Will even more teams catch on next year?
Last, let me clarify that I am not among those who want Sigi out. He’s a great coach—just not good enough to win the MLS Cup in a year when, yeah, I think Sounders had the talent to do so. But I don’t want him out because I don’t see anyone better lined up to take his place. (By comparison, I likewise don’t demand Evans’ ouster.) So what I’d really like to see is Sigi do better and that only happens if he receives criticism. (As we all know, MLS coaches regularly study the SBI comments section.)
Because when a fan base feels that their team has sufficient talent and resources to win a championship
They won the Supporter Shield. In a league built on parity…this should be celebrated much, much more than it is. Especially now with our playoffs becoming more of a joke with the amount of teams allowed in.
Seattle was the best team in MLS in the 2014 season.
“Seattle was the best team in MLS in the 2014 season”
We’ll try to keep that in mind at the StubHub Center this weekend 🙂
Tournament > Season
Haha….and I subconsciously had my greater than sign backwards. Don Garber, you win this time!
As New England emphasizes that point.
;P
It’s an insignificant percentage of Sounders fans that want Sigi out.
Sigi out campaign, as a non-Sounders fan, doesn’t make much sense to me. He won the Supporters Shield and Open Cup and lost on away goals in the playoffs to a team with at least a comparable level of talent, if not more. Doesn’t seem like much to complain about to me. Sure, maybe Mourinho could’ve done better but he isn’t coming to Seattle.
PEOPLE: THERE IS NO SIGI OUT CAMPAIGN.
The author is about 12 months behind. Even the blogs that have proven most critical of SigI at various points in the past are overwhelmingly in favor of his new contract.
There’s nothing to see here. Please move on.
“maybe Mourinho could’ve done better but he isn’t coming to Seattle.”
That’s the key. Though, in the spirit of Klinsmann, it would be nice if there were quality coaches out there vying for Sigi’s job.
What was the transfer fee for Yedlin? …and whow knows if the sounders will be able to use the transfer fee for allocation
Here’s a credible report/commentary I found on it:
Reports on the transfer fee have ranged between $3.5m-$4m and the Sounders will get 75 percent of that due to Yedlin’s Homegrown Player status. Of that 75 percent, $650,000 can be converted into allocation money. The rest? Let’s allow Hanauer to explain:
“It provides us with some cash to reinvest in any aspect of our soccer business that we want, whether that’s in our youth side that allows us to develop two or three or four more DeAndre Yedlins or Designated Players or other soccer facilities and infrastructure that will put us in a strong position going forward.”
Regarding allocation money:
As you hopefully know, allocation money is used to pay down the salary budget number of players, basically allowing teams to spend more money than the league-mandated budget allows. Even though the league’s transfer window is closed, the Sounders could still trade it, use it to sign players who are out of contract or even pay down the salary-budget number of players within the league they acquired via trade.
That’s one of the clearest explanations of transfer fees in MLS I’ve read. Very un-Garberian. Thanks for sharing.
I don’t suppose you can take any of that 75% of $3.5 million and apply it to a grass turf? Rumor has it the stuff grows pretty well in Seattle.
I don’t know where you’re hearing those rumors, but it’s not from anyone in Seattle.
“I wouldn’t say it’s 100 percent at this point, but it seems highly, highly likely that DeAndre will get a work permit…”
And if he doesn’t, then we won’t know until after the expansion draft and Yedlin will be safely back at the Sounders 😉