Several of the USA World Cup players returned to Major League Soccer action this weekend, many to heroes' welcomes. For some, the rumour mill was already churning.
Seattle's 20-year-old home-grown prodigy DeAndre Yedlin, whose fearless substitute performances as a speedy attacking right-back caught the eye in Brazil, has been the subject of a number of enquiries. The Sounders' general manager, Adrian Hanauer, acknowledged “lots of interest” in the player and felt obliged to point out that Yedlin was in Seattle “for now”.
As it stands, the front-runners for Yedlin are Roma – the American-owned (one of their directors, Brian Klein, is from Seattle) Serie A team who first came across the player when he featured for the MLS All-Stars against the Italians last summer.
The club worked closely with the league, which owns players' contracts, in 2013, not just on the All-Star game logistics but on best-practice initiatives such as an adaptation of the “Don’t cross the line” anti-discrimination campaign.
Despite reports that Yedlin may be going on trial with Liverpool, the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport has claimed that a Roma deal is nearly done. Most likely, such a deal would see Yedlin seeing out the MLS season with Seattle before going on loan to Genoa, where he would see enough game time to satisfy work-permit requirements while being developed for the senior Roma squad.
If the transfer were to go through it would likely represent a good deal all round – the MLS structure means such fees go direct to the league but clubs get a proportion in so-called allocation money which can be used to strengthen a squad or offset the salary cap. That amount is increased in the case of home-grown players such as Yedlin, whose development the league is trying to incentivise.
For the buyer, US players are increasingly seen as good value, even with the World Cup driving up their price. One former Roma player and USA mainstay, Michael Bradley, claims US players are still undervalued, particularly by coaches who prefer the “brand recognition” of, for example, Argentinians.
Yedlin’s personal brand is on a post-tournament high, but he is far from the only USA player attracting interest. Matt Besler, the Sporting Kansas City centre-back whose defensive solidity stood up to some severe tests in Brazil, is attracting attention, as is his SKC midfield team-mate Graham Zusi.
Besler has generated “enormous interest”, according to his club, and could be on the move within the next 10 days according to his agent, Eddie Rock, with offers on the table from Bundesliga and Premier League clubs.
Yedlin and Besler both have a decision to make. Besler is a Kansas City native and club captain, and Rock confirmed that a third option on the table for him is Sporting making him a designated player. Clubs are allowed up to three such players, for whom only a portion of wages count against the salary cap – a clause introduced when David Beckham joined the league.
Besler is genuinely drawn to the idea of the MLS champions building a dynasty around him, as the sport grows in the US. This puts him in line with a number of US national-team players who returned to MLS at the start of the season, prior to the World Cup.
Yedlin is part of a growing crop of young players for whom MLS has always been around, and who speaks unselfconsciously of supporting the team for which he plays.
Not that he is likely to turn down the lure of Roma, should a deal be made, though in another aspect of the deal that would have been almost impossible to visualise just a few years ago, he may have to adjust to smaller crowds. An expected 67,000 will turn out in Seattle next week, to see the Sounders play the Portland Timbers.
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