DeAndre Yedlin playing again, but future unclear

After starting the year buried on Newcastle’s bench, DeAndre Yedlin has now made six starts and seven appearances over the past month or so. But with just six months remaining on his contract, he says his future is as unsettled as it’s ever been.

“It has been a bit frustrating because me and my agent have had no communication with Newcastle at all about what their plans are for me, if I can go or if they want me to stay,” Yedlin recently told CBS. “It has been kind of a tough time and obviously I want to keep my head on football and just play my game, but there are distractions like that that unfortunately make it a bit tough.”

There are apparently no shortage of suitors, including more than a handful from top-flight clubs in Europe. The CBS story says teams like Club Brugge, Besiktas, Trabzonspor, Werder Bremen, Augsburg and Mainz have all expressed interest in the Seattle native. With teams like that interested, it would seem as though a move back to MLS is not particularly high among his preferences.

In theory, any of those teams could sign Yedlin now on a pre-contract. In practice, however, it seems like Yedlin would prefer to either stick with the Magpies long-term or be allowed to leave early.

“At this moment [I want] just some clarity over whether Newcastle want me to stay or whether I can go,” he said. “If I am going to leave Newcastle there’s steps I need to take in terms of talking to other teams and things like that. There’s been no clarity. My agent has reached out to people at Newcastle and they’ve responded back saying ‘yes we’ll call you’ and there’s no calls back. That has been quite frustrating.”