Products You May Like
Newcastle United and United States defender DeAndre Yedlin has said introducing promotion and relegation to Major League Soccer would make it a more serious and competitive league.
Yedlin played for MLS side Seattle Sounders FC before making the switch to Premier League football in 2015 when he joined Tottenham on a four-year contract.
– Stream new episodes of ESPN FC Monday through Friday on ESPN+
- Stream every episode of 30 for 30: Soccer Stories on ESPN+
He spent a year on loan at Sunderland before moving to Newcastle in 2016.
“There’s a different energy to when you win/lose a game in MLS to when you win/lose here. It’s that feeling that here, every game matters,” Yedlin told ESPN.
“Kids here are growing up knowing about relegation and how important it is and things like that. There, there’s just not that feel for it yet.
“If that got introduced, the league would be much more competitive. Something needs to be done to take the league more seriously, and I think that would be good.”
Despite believing in the promotion/relegation system, Yedlin added that he initially found the pressure of the Premier League difficult.
“It was actually quite tough for me in the beginning,” he added. “There were times when I was like ‘this is too much,’ the jump from MLS to here in all aspects of it, not just the football aspect.
“I remember being in my apartment thinking like, ‘I can’t do this, I want to go back.’
“That just goes to show that money is not everything because I was much happier making whatever I was making at MLS — which was much less than what I was making at Tottenham — but because life wasn’t giving me what I needed I was depressed.
“It was a very tough first six months for me.”
However, he does not regret coming to England and said this is the best place for U.S. players to develop.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself and I think I’ve learned things about myself that I definitely wouldn’t have learnt if I wouldn’t have come over here,” he said.
“Hopefully we can all lead this charge of American players coming over here. As of right now, this is the best place to develop.”