Long before joining Newcastle United, or even moving away from the States, DeAndre Yedlin had a link in former number nine, Obafemi Martins.
During Yedlin's stint at his hometown club, Seattle Sounders, the right back spent around 18 months with the Nigerian striker. The American international has opened up about how he was persuaded by the Magpie cult hero to join the Black and White Army.
Connected by clubs
Looking back to before joining the club, Yedlin said: “I spoke to Obafemi Martins before I made the move to Newcastle."
However, he revealed that he was well aware about his current club because of his team mate. Yedlin said “He actually spoke to me a bit about Newcastle before I even came over to Europe,"
"Oba was speaking about how much he enjoyed it here at this club so Newcastle were always in the back of my head" the 23 year old added.
Out of all the clubs in the world, the two are bound from playing the same and in the interview, Yedlin notes this: “He was the one who really looked after me when I was in Seattle so it’s cool that we both have this connection now.” However, Martins now plays in the Chinese Super League with Shanghai Greenland Shenhua.
Back to winning ways
Following the conversation regarding the persuasion to join the club, Yedlin looks to the present and future, explaining the mood in the camp.
Optimistically he said: “We have full belief in what we are doing,”
Elaborating on the comment, he talks about the recent slump that Newcastle are lifting themselves out of: “Just about every team in just about every season will go through a little bit of a rough patch."
Yedlin was involved with the Toon's most recent conquest where they beat Derby County 1-0 at home and he believes that this has instilled confidence back into his teammates: “I just think that’s what we’ve been going through recently. We’re re-finding momentum and then we’ll move on like we were before we hit this little patch."
“We know we have the capability to do it, we won so many games during the first half of the season and we beat most teams – so we know we can do it and it’s just making sure we get back to winning ways" the right back concluded.