DeAndre Yedlin’s EPL Doppelganger

By Jimmy Lee | Nov 23, 2014

As the MLS season soon comes to a close, one question everyone wants to know is when DeAndre Yedlin will make his move to Tottenham Hotspur.

And the big question for football fans in North London is when he does make the move across the Atlantic, will he be any good?

Yedlin is still young and has yet to reach his full potential as a soccer player. But one of the skills he certainly does have is speed. Yedlin is lighting fast. If you don’t know just how fast he is, take a look at this video from the US Open Cup earlier this year.

Yedlin, who was at least 20 yards behind the ball, outran Philadelphia Union midfielder Cristian Maidana to stop the break away.

Saturday in Swansea City’s defeat to Manchester City, I could have sworn I saw DeAndre Yedlin on the field for the Swans. For a moment I was sure that I had glimpsed into the future to what Yedlin would look like in the EPL. But it was not DeAndre, it was his EPL doppelganger, Swansea City forward, Modou Barrow.

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Barrow came in as a substitute in the 77^th minute and instantly made his presence felt. Thundering down the right flank, the young Swedish boy outran every Manchester City defender and sent a perfect ball into the box which could have spelt danger for Man City had Swansea striker Bafétimbi Gomis continued his run.

Saturday’s match against Man City was only Mo Barrow’s second EPL appearance after being signed from Östersunds FK, a team in Sweden’s second division. As I watched his speed down that right side of the pitch, wearing a white shirt, it was almost as if I was watching Yedlin wearing the white shirt of Spurs, as he raced past defenders.

But there is a big difference between Barrow and Yedlin. While Barrow is a striker, Yedlin is a defender. But the greatest attribute both players possess is their speed. Yedlin may turn into a world class defender, which would be a great bonus for Spurs, but what he does best is run at opposing defenses down the right side.

That’s what he did for the US Men’s National Team this summer at the World Cup. In the match against Portugal, it was Yedlin who attacked their defense down the right side, brought the ball to the byline before crossing it into the box which led to the go ahead goal by Clint Dempsey.

Whenever Yedlin does join Tottenham, in January or at the start of the upcoming EPL season, Spurs will hope that he can do exactly what he did that day back in June against Portugal – use his speed to exploit the defense.

Yedlin may be playing from a deeper position than Mo Barrow does for Swansea, but today, for just a moment, I thought I was watching Yedlin in the Premier League. Tottenham did not sign DeAndre Yedlin for his defensive skills, they signed him to do exactly what Mo Barrow did today – run really fast.