The rollercoaster saga that has been the potential transfer of DeAndre Yedlin to Italian side AS Roma seems to have taken another turn. Yedlin's desire to play in Europe now rather than in the future nearly cost him the deal with Roma though. Last week it was suggested that he would sign elsewhere due to those desires. On Wednesday though, the rumor mill was kicked back into gear after a tweet from Fox Soccer host Keith Costigan who posted the tweet on the left side of your screen.
Roma owner James Palotta on American player coming to Roma "we will have an announcement in the next few weeks"
— keith costigan (@KeithCostigan) July 23, 2014
It appears that the player being referred to is Seattle Sounders FC right-back DeAndre Yedlin. The 21-year-old Seattle native saw his stock rise around the world after his performances in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. More specifically during the final match for the United States against Belgium where he more than held his own during his 88 minutes on the pitch as an injury replacement for Fabian Johnson.
The cards were stacked against him as he was matched up with Chelsea FC midfielder Eden Hazard, known as one of the faster players in the English Premier League. Yedlin was able to match Hazard step-for-step on defense while using his world-class pace to make recovery runs after pushing into the attack.
His play started bringing European suitors to the Sounders door with interest from clubs like Liverpool, Napoli, Anderlecht and Inter Milan. It looks as though it will be Roma who will win the race to sign the young American with a reported $5 million transfer fee.
A key factor of this deal is that it looks like Yedlin will be loaned back to Seattle for the remainder of the 2014 MLS Regular Season. So he would be available for the potential special run towards a domestic treble that the Sounders are in prime position for at the moment. On top of that, they would likely gain the maximum amount of allocation money available from this deal and a couple million dollars to spend on other soccer-related activities. That could be anything from their Academy to using towards another DP purchase in the future.
One other thing to note regarding this deal is that once the Major League Soccer season ends Yedlin will not be able to play for Roma until the end of the 2014-15 season due to roster rules limiting the number of non-European players on a squad. In that case, Yedlin would most likely be loaned to a Serie B club to get him acclimatized to the Italian game before making his debut with the first team in time for the 2015-16 season.