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Anyone who is anyone that has connections to major clubs seems to be finding transfer rumors involving DeAndre Yedlin. The Seattle Sounders FC and United States right back is as popular an American transfer target as has been seen in a few years, though less pricey than Bradley and Dempsey. Most recently Inter Milan enters the mix wanting the now-21-year-old's services.
Why is everyone talking about him?
- World Cup fever - an entire globe just saw him perform
- Hit parade - they know they'll get US soccer hits
- Teams actually do want him
- He's cheap compared to talent already in Europe
Let's expand on that last one. One of the new bits in the linked rumor is a supposed price tag of 3 million euros. That is pretty high for a player coming from MLS, and probably too low for DeAndre Yedlin. The benchmark for a great MLS fullback going abroad is Andy Najar. His deal was ~3 million dollars at the time of transfer. That was good for what is now the 8th best sale from this league to another team. Najar was younger when sold, but didn't have the World Cup bump and played in a market relatively bereft of marketing opportunities.
The slightly more than 4 million dollars mentioned above would be a good sale for Seattle Sounders and MLS. It isn't enough money though. If teams like Liverpool, Roma and Inter are competing for Yedlin's signature right after a World Cup that number will grow.
One only need look at that list of top sales again and see that it isn't all forwards and attacking mids. The third highest sale Maurice Edu. The fifth is Tim Howard. Edu was slightly older than Yedlin, didn't have the World Cup bump and didn't have the world class physical skills. Howard was also older, had more USMNT experience and is in a position that leagues around the world understand America produces awesome.
For these reasons one should assume that Yedlin's eventual price will Edu/EJ range, or a bit higher. He will not approach Altidore. DeAndre is older than Altidore was, plays a less glamorous role and has less national team experience.
A decent range of expectation is somewhere in the 6-8 million dollar range, nearly double the current rumors. That would mean that Seattle found and developed two of the top seven sales in MLS history.