It looks as though we may be soon crossing the finish line in the transfer of right-back DeAndre Yedlin. Even now as we draw this story to a close, there are still more questions than answers. What we do know is that Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League has emerged as the favorites to land the services of Yedlin but other than that, it is still fuzzy.
The rumors of an impending deal were amplified today as Yedlin was not at training ahead of the Seattle Sounders' nationally-televised match with the Houston Dynamo this Sunday night at CenturyLink Field. Instead he is in London where he completed a medical on Friday according to Goal.com. Reports are stating that Tottenham will pay between $3.5 and $4.6 million dollars for the speedy American and that he would also stay with Seattle through the end of the 2014 MLS season before joining Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.
There are a couple of big questions for this writer about this potential deal. The first is if indeed this deal goes through, how beneficial will it actually be for Yedlin and Tottenham? For club, it will mean another young fullback to add to their collection of young fullbacks right now. For player, it could mean little first-team action for the near future.
Let's take a look at the current crop of players for Tottenham at the right back position. At the top of the depth chart is 24-year-old Englishmen Kyle Walker. Walker was the favorite to start for Roy Hodgson's England squad at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil but he was left out of the squad due to the lingering effects from a pelvic injury suffered in March 2014. Walker was signed as a 19-year-old from his hometown club of Sheffield United; he was subsequently loaned back to Sheffield for the 2009-2010 season.
Since signing for Spurs on July 22, 2009, Walker has played in 67 matches on loan away from Tottenham. In the same time frame, he has played 133 matches for the club. To put that into percentage terms, Walker has played 33.5 percent of his matches since signing for Tottenham away from White Hart Lane.
Second on the depth chart is 25-year-old Kyle Naughton. Naughton, like Walker ahead of him, was born in Sheffield and came up through the Sheffield United youth system. He was also part of the deal that brought Walker to Tottenham as Spurs paid a combined £9 million for the two players. Naughton made one FA Cup appearance during his first season before finding himself spending the next three years on loan to Middlesbrough, Leicester City and Norwich City.
Naughton has played in 146 matches since signing for Tottenham in 2009; only 61 of those have come with the club itself, a percentage of 41.7 percent. When you combine those numbers with that Walker's, you see that the two players have appearance in 346 matches since signing for Spurs with only 194 of them, or 56 percent, coming with the first team.
Finally third on the depth chart is 21-year-old Ryan Fredericks. Fredericks came up through the Tottenham youth system signing with the senior team in 2011. He has made four appearances with the first team in that time with another 16 coming away on loan. That brings the total percentage of appearances on loan from Tottenham Hotspur by their current crop of young right-backs to 45.9 percent.
Now they look to add DeAndre Yedlin. It is always exciting to see the best young players from the United States make the jump to Europe but they have to make sure that it is the right move. Otherwise they could end up like Freddy Adu, Brek Shea or Eddie Johnson before he returned to Seattle. Those players had loads of skill and huge potential but just could not find the field in order to continue their development.
Former Tottenham Hotspur and Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller had some very interesting words to say regarding the possible transfer of Yedlin in a piece written by Keith Hickey of Goal.com on Thursday. Keller's words are right in line with the thoughts of most Americans in that we just want to see our young American players play. That is the only way that they will develop into better soccer players as a whole is if they are getting consistent first-team minutes with whatever club they choose to be at.
Consistent first-team minutes was one of the driving factors behind the transfer of Michael Bradley from AS Roma in the Italian Serie A to Toronto FC earlier this season. It was very difficult for Bradley to breakthrough that solid starting midfield trio of Daniele De Rossi, Miralem Pjanic and Kevin Strootman so Bradley looked for a place where he get that game action that was needed to keep him in form for the World Cup. That place just so happened to be with Toronto FC.
The second big question about the Yedlin transfer would be the issue of the work permit. American soccer fans have already seen one of its young players have his dream of playing in the Premier League be taken away because of work permit issues.
That player was Juan Agudelo who was entering the final few months of his contract with Major League Soccer. He was being targeted by clubs in the British Isles including West Ham United and Celtic. Agudelo eventually signed a pre-contract agreement with Stoke City Football Club in August of 2013 only to find out just a few months later that his work permit had been denied by the Football Association.
The rules regarding the approval of work permits for non-European players are very solid. According to the criteria given to all clubs of the Football League, a footballer who is not from the United Kingdom or a British overseas territory, a British crown dependency or a member of the European Economic Area must obtain a "Governing Body Endorsement" under Tier 2 of the United Kingdom's five tier immigration scheme.
To qualify for that endorsement, that player must have played in at least 75 percent of their country's top-level national team matches over the past two years from the time that the application is filed. In this case, DeAndre Yedlin has appeared in seven matches of the 33 United States Men's National Team matches since August 8, 2012, or just 21.2 percent.
There is an appeal process where a club can plead their case in front of a panel in case the player does not meet the established criteria. The panel is asked "to consider whether the player is of the highest caliber" and "to consider whether the player will contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in England." Both of those quotes come directly from the packet given out to clubs in the Football League regarding foreign player transfers.
Yedlin is a good young player but is he of the highest caliber? No, he has not even started a match for his national team yet. Can he contribute to the continued development of the game at the top level in England? It is possible. Is that enough to grant him a reprieve on the existing conditions to allow him to join Tottenham? Probably not, but he does have another option.
DeAndre Yedlin is of Latvian ancestry along with some Native American and African American as well, but this means that he may be eligible to hold a dual citizenship between the United States and Latvia. This would only work if his Latvian parent was still a citizen of the country when Yedlin was born. If he were to do that, then he could skip the whole work permit process as a citizen of Latvia (also a member of the European Economic Area). All that would need to be done is for him to register for a residence permit if he plays for an English club for more than 12 months in a row.
The biggest concern for fans of Yedlin and of the USMNT will be the first-team minutes. It may not be the smartest move for Yedlin to go to a club where their starting right back is only three years older AND the favorite to start in the position for the England National Team. Especially when you consider that a move to AS Roma, where he was linked to go originally, could see him on the field with the first-team significantly sooner than with Spurs.
Roma's starting right back is 33-year-old Brazilian international Maicon. The fullbacks for Roma are encouraged to jump into the attack in Manager Rudi Garcia's 4-3-3 system; that is exactly the kind of system that a player like Yedlin would fit into with his pace forward and recovery speed. We may never know why the deal with Roma fell through but in hindsight it may turn out to be the better of the two options.
So what does Tottenham Hotspur do with Yedlin? It looks as though he will remain with the Sounders through the end of the 2014 regular season but some words today from GM Adrian Hanauer could indicate a longer stay in the Emerald City. Hanauer said today during an interview with reporters after Sounders training today that "It would be a deal that was constructed in a way that potentially he could be here through the end of the year, potentially longer."
Hopefully there will be some clarity in the next few days. Yedlin is expected to be in Seattle for the match on Sunday night maybe some answers will be given then if they aren't already known.