Newcastle have made their ninth signing of the summer window as DeAndre Yedlin joins from Tottenham Hotspur. Rafa Benitez is giving his squad an overhaul this summer and Yedlin is the latest to join Newcastle’s promotion hunt. He has never played in the Championship, but has experience in the MLS and the Premier League.
The US international joins for a fee rumoured to be around £5 million, which represents good business for Newcastle. He is coming to replace Daryl Janmaat, who left earlier in the day for £7.5 million, therefore the club have made a profit of £2.5 million. Yedlin is younger than the Dutchman and could grow into a better full back in the future, especially under the guidance of Rafa Benitez.
The former Tottenham full back will bring pace to Newcastle’s flanks and will relish the opportunity of establishing himself in the first team. He will be competing with Jesus Gamez and Vurnon Anita for a starting place, but he will believe that he can earn it.
Yedlin played for Sunderland last season, which adds some spice to the move. This could be a benefit to Newcastle as the full back knows the area well and will need less time to settle in than the other new signings. He played at St James’ Park in the derby towards the end of the campaign and may need a positive start to avoid the Sunderland connection from doing him any damage.
He rose to prominence during the 2014 World Cup after some good showings for the USA and earned a move to Tottenham as a result. The move didn’t work out as he first hoped as he struggled to get past Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier. However his loan spell at Sunderland showed that he is good enough for the Premier League. At the Stadium of Light, he played a vital role in the resurgence under Sam Allardyce and helped the club stay up.
Despite having ambitions above the Championship, it is a good move for Yedlin as he will get the opportunity to learn from Rafa Benitez, who is one of the best coaches in the world. He needs to improve his positioning and learn when to attack. These are things that he will gain under Benitez and he will finish the season as a much better player. At the age of 23, he has a lot of time left in his career. As such, he should be trying to improve on the pitch as much as possible and playing under Rafa Benitez will help him do that.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the news:
Some Newcastle fans were happy that Yedlin was replacing Janmaat in the squad:
https://twitter.com/paralysisoption/status/768487611396677632
https://twitter.com/SMPint/status/768485032730226688
A few people have doubts about the American:
https://twitter.com/MurphysTweets/status/768198002628448256
USMNT fans think its a good move for Yedlin:
Sunderland fans don’t think he is good anyway:
https://twitter.com/MPotts1993/status/768480089789100032
Finally, fans of other clubs were impressed at the speed of Newcastle’s business:
https://twitter.com/abz_gooner/status/768493123513249792
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