The defender opened up on the off-field difficulties of being traded and the experienced he's had so far
DeAndre Yedlin has experienced plenty in his career. At 31, he's now the veteran, which is wild for those who remember him going toe-to-toe with Belgium's Eden Hazard at the 2014 World Cup behind his pace and the irrational confidence of a 21-year-old.
This past winter, though, Yedlin experienced something new, something that no athlete is ever really prepared for: getting traded.
It's a phenomenon unique to sports. Teachers, construction workers and paralegals aren't suddenly shipped out of town for allocation money. Things change rapidly in sports and, for those part of those sudden changes, the only hope is that things work out okay.
They have for Yedlin, who says he's unexpectedly found a new home in Cincinnati. After leaving behind Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, Yedlin has adjusted well to life in his new city, one that he plans to call home for a long time. Even so, there's still some heartbreak there. There are still times he thinks about what was left behind.
For the Wednesday Convo, a weekly Q&A with central figures in the U.S. soccer scene, GOAL US caught up with Yedlin to talk about this winter's big trade, the lessons he's learned along the way and how he feels about those that compare eras of the U.S. men's national team.
USA Today SportsHow are you enjoying life in Cincinnati?
Yedlin: "Honestly, coming here, I had no clue what to expect. I knew about the team. I knew it was a good team, and they had great players. I knew the coaches, but, there's a lot bigger part of life than just the soccer part. What's it gonna be like living here? And honestly, it has been incredible from day one.
"I went in with no expectations. I did. I honestly had no clue what to expect. I'd only been here for national team games, where we stayed downtown. You don't get to get that taste of what a city is like. You don't get the feel, but, in coming here, it really has become like a second home. Obviously, I call Seattle my first home, but it really has become like a second home. There's so much for kids to do and one thing that it made me realize is that it really doesn't matter where you are. I think as long as you're with the people you love, and they're happy and you're happy, then the place is going to feel incredible.
"Hopefully, I can stay here longer. We'll see. I have a year left on my contract, and I think a year option after that. It's a place that I would love to stay. It really is. It's a great place."
AdvertisementGettyWhat's the hardest part about being traded?
DY: "Honestly, the thing that I was most sad about was to leave Drake [Callendar] and his wife, Kyra. Earlier, I think it was the year before, it was me, Drake Callender, and Aime Mabika, who's at Toronto right now. Aime got traded to Toronto, and that was really hard for both me and Drake, because we had created, like all three of us, this friendship group. Now it's just me and Drake, and then obviously my wife and Drake's wife are best friends as well. They'd be over at the house all the time. When we found out that Cincinnati could happen, bless my wife, that was the only thing she said: 'I just don't want to leave Kyra.'
" I think, if it was the younger me, then my mind would have gone to, 'Oh, what is everybody going to think about this move? What is the public going to think? How are they going to view me now? Am I not I'm not worthy of being here?'. That whole thing, but for me, it was just, man, it's unfortunate that I have to say goodbye to this guy and his wife."
AAYou've had a lot of different stops in your career with different cities and cultures. What has that been like?
DY: "Seattle to London was an interesting one, because Seattle's a big city, but it's not London, you know? I'd always wanted to live, or I thought I did, in a big city. So I get to London it really is a big city and that part of it was tough for me. I thought I was going to be able to navigate it better than I was. There's a lot going on, a lot to get into, especially at a young age. I'm making a lot more than I ever had. Those first couple of months, especially on top of not really playing, I was definitely figuring stuff out.
"When I moved to Sunderland, basically same thing with Newcastle, they're not too far apart from each other, but I felt when I moved up north, I felt a little bit more at home. I think it was maybe the calmness of the city. There's a bit more nature out there. I'm a huge nature guy. I love being out in nature. When I'm in nature, I just feel grounded and balanced, so I felt a lot more comfortable up there. And then, obviously, it helps that, when I was with Rafa Benitez [at Newcastle], I was playing. We were doing really well, so I'm sure that obviously helped the comfort level.
"My daughter was born in Istanbul, so as far as raising a family for me, that was a new start. It wasn't, for me, the best place for our situation and that's why, ultimately, we ended up heading back to Miami, but it's an unbelievable place. I need to visit and bring my daughter back.
"The culture there is unmatched. I remember my favorite experience in Turkey was going to a place called Cappadocia, which was, back when the Ottoman Empire in rule, it ended up being where there were small groups of Christians, and that was not the norm there in that part of the country. They would hide in these caves that they built in these rocks and the caves are still there. The paintings on the wall are there for all to see. If you haven't been, it's an unbelievable place."
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GettyYou've played with USMNT legends and this generation of rising stars. How do you compare them?
"I like using real-life examples a lot. Am I right now the same person as I was when I was 21? No, I'm different. It doesn't mean I'm better or I'm worse, but I'm just a different person. They're different generations. I don't want to say one's better, one's worse. They're just different. They're different generations, different experiences, different times, different situations, different society. There are a lot of things that are just different about it.
"One of the things about sports, which you can't really get away from because it is a competitive sport, but it's just this nonstop comparing. Michael Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, but, like, let's just enjoy the greatness of of all of them. Messi, Ronaldo, let's just enjoy the greatness of both. Why does it always have to be an argument about who's better and who's worse? At the end of the day, you're not going to change somebody's mind anyway. If someone believes something, I'm not going to sit here and say, 'Oh, Jordan was better than LeBron', and somebody now doesn't believe LeBron is better. I'm not going say 'Oh, Jordan had this many rings' and that'll change their mind. It's just a means to get into another argument with somebody or a debate, which we've all had plenty going around.
"I think debates are healthy at times, there are certain things where you just got to sit back and say, 'I'm just going to enjoy the greatness of both of these eras or these three eras, and that's it'. Going back to what I said, it's just a different time. There's not really a way to compare different coaches or different players. It's a different time in our society with social media, which plays a role. There are different opportunities now for players going over to Europe that probably weren't there before. All of these things play a hand in it."