Dick Advocaat has admitted that he doesn't know a lot about Sunderland's new loan signing DeAndre Yedlin just yet.
Yedlin joined the Black Cats on a season-long loan from Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day, but has not worked with his new team and manager a lot since, having been away with the USA during the international break.
He was unable to feature at the weekend too against his parent club, Sunderland losing 1-0, but Advocaat has revealed that he is keen to get to know the youngster and see what impact he can have on Wearside.
More time needed to assess the loanee
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, when asked about Yedlin, Advocaat said, "I don't know enough about him yet, to be honest."
The Dutchman recruited the 22-year-old having seen "videos of him" and also his performance "against Holland" recently, "when he did really well when he came on."
However, the manager believes that only "in training" can he really see what Yedlin "bring[s]" to the team and "if he is better than the others" in his position. Therefore, it is understandable that Advocaat doesn't know a lot about the youngster just yet, as "he only [arrived on Wearside] on Friday" and so the team still "need to work with him more."
Advocaat confident that Yedlin will strengthen team
However, it appears that the first impressions Yedlin has given are good ones, as the former Netherlands national team manager has stated that his signing "will definitely strengthen [Sunderland's] options at full-back."
The Black Cats are currently without right-back Adam Matthews, who arrived from Celtic this summer but is out for up to another month with an ankle injury, meaning Billy Jones and Patrick van Aanholt were their only options in the full-back positions prior to Yedlin's arrival.
Both these two have received their fair share of criticism already this season as Sunderland continue to search for their first win in the Premier League, and so the American will definitely help them improve by offering competition, particularly to Jones, who is right-sided like Yedlin.
The manager describes the Spurs loanee as "really quick," with "pace" that is "superb," but notes that he is a more attacking option, as he "played for the national team last week more as a right-winger than a full-back."
Advocaat must bear this in mind when selecting his teams, as the attacking mindset of van Aanholt in particular has led to the team being overexposed at the back more often than not already this season. He realises this too, saying that, with the full-backs, "it's all about [the] balance...between going forward and staying back."
Yedlin is available to make his debut in red and white this Saturday, when Sunderland travel to Dean Court to face Bournemouth.