Once a Sounder, always a Sounder.
Former Homegrown Player DeAndre Yedlin currently plies his trade with Newcastle in the English Championship, the second division in England, but spent his first two professional seasons with the Rave Green.
In an interview with Four Four Two on Wednesday, Yedlin, 23, expressed what it meant to watch the Sounders win their first MLS Cup title this year.
“I’m not normally short of things to say, but I was really lost for words when they won MLS, because I’ve seen the club grow,” said Yedlin. “I know all the guys on the team and the coaching staff, and I know how much work they have put in, so to see them being able to raise the trophy … it meant even more to me because it’s my hometown team.”
Yedlin, who wished Seattle luck in a video message prior to the MLS Cup Final, scored twice and added seven assists in 62 total MLS regular season and postseason matches with the Sounders in 2013 and ’14. He also earned his first United States national team cap while with Seattle, a match against South Korea in February 2014.
Yedlin transferred from a loan at Sunderland to Newcastle on a permanent move in late August, and he said in early October that Newcastle felt like Seattle. He was more at ease in northeast England than he was in the bright lights of London where he lived while with Tottenham in 2015, and he reaffirmed that in Four Four Two.
“The weather, unfortunately, is one of many things that reminds me of home,” Yedlin said. “It’s smaller than London and really friendly, just like Seattle, which is my favorite place, so Newcastle feels like home.
“Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time in London, because it’s a fantastic place. But living-wise, I’m more comfortable in this kind of environment.”
