U.S. defender DeAndre Yedlin has been the subject of transfer rumours in Europe, but on Monday said he is focusing on his Seattle Sounders season, according to a report.
- Yedlin a hot name on transfer market
"I'm kind of letting my representatives take care of that right now, and they'll obviously get back to me on that information," he told The Seattle Times at Monday's practice, his first since returning to the country. "Right now I'm just focused on Seattle, focused on hopefully winning the MLS Cup and just looking to come back and do well."
The 20-year-old has reportedly drawn interest from Serie A clubs before and last week Sky Sport Italia reporter Gianluca di Marzio speculated that a dual deal with Genoa and Roma could bring Yedlin to Italy, with Roma signing the 20-year-old defender and then loaning him to Genoa.
Yedlin, who turns 21 on Wednesday, said he had always wanted to play for the U.S. in the World Cup, and playing in Europe is also one of his goals.
"That's obviously been my goal since I was a little kid [World Cup], so that was a big one," he told the newspaper. "But now I think I almost have to make new goals and re-evaluate and see where I want to be in the next year, next six months."
Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer said via statement that the club continues to count with Yedlin's services.
"DeAndre has had a very good season in Seattle and obviously had a fantastic World Cup. This has drawn lots of interest for him from leagues around the world," Hanauer said. "For now, DeAndre is in Seattle and we need him to help us win our upcoming games against Portland. If something transpires with a foreign team, we will announce it."
U.S. teammate Michael Bradley played for Roma from 2012 to 2014.
Seattle plays Portland in the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup on Wednesday.
Yedlin, who makes a base salary of $80,000 annually with guaranteed compensation of $92,000, signed with the Sounders to start the 2013 season. Coach Sigi Schmid said the decision to play in Europe will ultimately be Yedlin's.
"I told him, he's got to talk to people that he trusts, feels comfortable with, and get the information that he needs to make a decision," Schmid told The Seattle Times. "But right now, his focus is on our game Wednesday and on our game Sunday."
Yedlin's agent, Chris Megaloudis, told the newspaper that the player was still a Sounder for now.
"There is plenty of interest in DeAndre from around the world at this time," he told The Seattle Times via email. "Should an opportunity arise that makes sense for the league/club and DeAndre, we will explore it further."
Schmid told the newspaper that sometimes overseas opportunities are better.
"It's like, why does Pau Gasol play in the NBA? Why does [Manu] Ginobili play in the NBA?" he said. "Because the league [NBA] is better than their leagues in their home countries. There's going to be certain players where it's the right thing to do, is to go overseas."