DeAndre Yedlin

DeAndre Yedlin - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of DeAndre Yedlin

DeAndre Roselle Yedlin (born July 9, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. Primarily a right-back, Yedlin has also featured as a right wing-back and wide midfielder.

This profile of DeAndre Yedlin covers Youth, college, and amateur, Seattle Sounders FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Galatasaray.

Youth, college, and amateur of DeAndre Yedlin

Yedlin was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Yedlin began playing soccer at age four and learned while watching his uncle from the sideline. Yedlin was a product of O'Dea High School in Seattle, and was part of Washington Youth Soccer's State Olympic Development Program (ODP) from 2006 to 2009. He also played youth soccer for Emerald City FC and Northwest Nationals before going to U.S. Soccer Development Academy club Crossfire Premier. Yedlin stayed in the DA but moved to the Seattle Sounders FC youth academy for the 2010–11 season. Seattle Sounders youth director Darren Sawatzky first saw him play at age 11 and later said that Yedlin was "an offensive player at the time, he was tricky, he had explosiveness and could run for days." Seattle Sounders FC sporting director Chris Henderson said of Yedlin: "DeAndre has great quickness and speed. He reads the game well, keeps possession, but he's able to attack the flank and get crosses in."

On February 8, 2011, Yedlin signed a letter of intent to play college soccer at the University of Akron under coach Caleb Porter. In his first year, Yedlin started in 20 of his 23 games for the Zips, playing alongside future professionals Wil Trapp, Darren Mattocks, Aodhan Quinn, and Scott Caldwell. He scored his first collegiate goal on September 28, 2011, in a 3–1 victory over Ohio State. He finished the year with six assists and made the College Soccer News Freshman All-American team. In his second year, Yedlin made 22 appearances and finished the year with six assists as well.

During the collegiate offseason, Yedlin played for Seattle Sounders FC U-23 in the Premier Development League, and was named to the 2012 All-PDL First XI for his play.

Seattle Sounders FC of DeAndre Yedlin

On January 11, 2013, after two seasons with Akron, Yedlin signed with Seattle Sounders FC as the club's first homegrown player.

He made his debut on March 2 in a 1–0 home defeat to the Montreal Impact. Yedlin was named to the MLS Team of the Week for his performance, becoming the first rookie to earn the honor in his professional debut. On March 12, Yedlin shined and scored his first professional goal for the club in a 3–1 win against Tigres in the second leg of the Sounders 3–2 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal aggregate victory.

On July 15, Yedlin was named to the MLS All-Star team for their match against Roma on July 31, making him the first rookie to be named to the All-Star team since 2005 when Michael Parkhurst was selected during his rookie season. Yedlin was ranked 3rd among MLS players under the age of 24 in 2013, according to MLSSoccer.com.

Yedlin scored his first professional league goal in a 1–1 draw with the Colorado Rapids on July 20, 2013. Yedlin was again named to the MLS All-Star team in 2014, starting in a 2–1 victory against FC Bayern Munich.

Tottenham Hotspur

After success for club and breaking out at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it was announced on August 13, 2014, that Yedlin had been transferred to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, signing a four-year contract with the club. Other European clubs, including A.S. Roma, were interested. Yedlin remained with Seattle before joining Tottenham in January 2015. Yedlin would celebrate New Year's at Harry Kane's home. He trained with Tottenham for the first time on January 7, 2015. He made his first appearance for the under-21 team on January 9, 2015. Yedlin made his Premier League debut on April 11, 2015, in a loss to Aston Villa.

On September 1, 2015, Sunderland acquired Yedlin on a year-long loan. On September 22, Yedlin made his Sunderland debut in a League Cup match, playing the full 90 minutes and notching an assist for Sunderland's only goal in a 4–1 loss to Manchester City. On October 3, 2015, Yedlin started his first Premier League game against West Ham United.

Newcastle United

On August 24, 2016, Yedlin moved to Newcastle United for £5 million on a five-year contract. He made his debut on August 27, in a match against Brighton and Hove Albion as an 88th-minute substitute for Yoan Gouffran. Two weeks later, Yedlin scored his first goal for the club and his first in three years in a 2–0 victory against Derby County on September 10. He scored his first Premier League goal on September 1, 2018, in a 2–1 defeat at Manchester City.

Galatasaray

On February 1, 2021, Yedlin joined the Turkish side Galatasaray on a 2.5-year contract. On March 19, Yedlin scored his first goal for the club, his first since 2019, conceded a penalty, and was sent off in a dramatic 3–4 defeat at home to Çaykur Rizespor. On January 26, 2022, his contract with Galatasaray was terminated by mutual consent.

Inter Miami

Yedlin joined Inter Miami CF on February 2, 2022, on a four-year contract with an additional one-year option. "It's almost a DP signing for us, really, in terms of his quality," Manager Phil Neville said. "He's played at the top, top level in the top soccer nations in the world. So we hope his experience, his quality, his leadership, and the fact that he's American I think is really important. We have a young, new team and we want experience in there as well." Yedlin stated "I know when I was in MLS, was a weakness in my game," after the move was announced. "Not only 1-v-1 but positionally. But now I'm coming back, being in a lot of different situations and a lot of different formations, playing different positions to a point now where I'm a lot more comfortable in those situations. I think I'm a lot better defender now than I was when I left."

Yedlin was the vice captain of the squad which won Inter Miami's first ever trophy, the 2023 Leagues Cup. The video of Lionel Messi offering the armband to Yedlin to raise the trophy with him went viral.

FC Cincinnati

On March 4, 2024, Yedlin moved to FC Cincinnati. When asked about the decision to leave a team led by Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez to join FC Cincinnati, Yedlin responded that he and his wife were attracted to Cincinnati as it is a great place to raise a family and has TQL Stadium, which he considered to be the best soccer specific stadium in the United States. It was also announced that he would wear number 91 in honor of his uncle.

2013: Youth level

Yedlin was named to the United States under-20 squad on June 7, 2013, for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. Yedlin made his U-20 international debut a week later in a 3–1 victory over Portugal.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeAndre_Yedlin), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.