DeAndre Yedlin Making January Switch to Spurs Makes Plenty of Sense

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino still appears to be working out the identity of his preferred back four at White Hart Lane, but apparently that doesn’t mean he is averse to adding a few more options to the mix.

It appears that 21-year-old full-back DeAndre Yedlin could join up with the Spurs' squad in January, fast-tracking the agreement that was reached with the Seattle Sounders in the summer.

As part of the deal to take the raw, pacy right-back to the Premier League, it was originally decided he would stay with the MLS side until next June—a timeframe that now appears to have been revised, according to recent comments from the player himself.

"A big deciding factor is my passport—I'm working on getting a Latvian passport," Yedlin told ESPN FC about when he will join up with his new club. "If that goes through, January is definitely very possible. It's either June or January.”

The fact that Yedlin is pursuing a Latvian passport—to be clear, he would still only be able to represent the U.S. side internationally—would seem to indicate that both club and player want to complete the switch to London in January if at all possible, although that is not necessarily the case.

The benefits of having such a passport remain the same in the short and long term.

With Latvia a member of the European Union, Yedlin would avoid the need for a work permit in future—a potential obstacle, at least until he picks up a few more international appearances—allowing him far greater flexibility with career choices both in the short- and long-term future.

In theory, he could also join up with Spurs for a few months from January and then return to Seattle for the start of the new MLS season, as the likes of Landon Donovan and Thierry Henry have done in the past—under more conventional loan arrangements—without encountering much red tape.

"I always knew I had that sort of [Latvian] background. I never really paid attention to it, but it's become useful now and I'm going to take advantage of it,” Yedlin said.

Securing a Latvian passport would feasibly enable Spurs to loan him to any number of sides on the continent.

Having turned down such opportunities before to play in the Premier League, however, it would seem unlikely the player would be agreeable to any such temporary move—even perhaps to a club lower down England’s footballing pyramid.

"I could have signed for Roma, but I just felt that England fits my playing style better,” Yedlin noted. “Tottenham was a good situation for me.”

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When the deal was initially agreed to in the summer on the back of Yedlin’s eye-catching World Cup performances, it was decided that he would join up with Spurs after another year to develop at the Sounders.

The fact that Spurs are now looking to get the player in sooner indicates Pochettino is still not completely settled on his defensive options and there is the opportunity for a new face to force his way into the reckoning.

First-choice full-back Kyle Walker is yet to make an appearance this season due to injury issues, while Kyle Naughton has also been sidelined and is yet to convince many of his usefulness.

In their absence, Eric Dier started the season at right-back, although the imposing 21-year-old has faded slightly—perhaps understandably, considering his own inexperience—as the season has matured.

That disruption, if it were to continue until the winter transfer window, would in theory give Yedlin the opportunity to come in and assert his own claim to regular first-team football sooner than anyone expected.

His natural style would seem to fit in with what Pochettino wants—and what he had last season at Southampton in Luke Shaw and Nathaniel Clyne—although his defensive abilities remain a significant question mark.

"I'm an attacking full-back,” Yedlin noted. “They have Kyle Walker and I'm excited to learn from him and learn from the other full-backs and coach Mauricio Pochettino, who's great with young players."

Learning would appear to be the likeliest course of action. Only the most optimistic or blinkered fans of the U.S. men's national soccer team would suggest that Yedlin—a surprise inclusion in their World Cup squad, but one who has advanced rapidly since then—is ready to start week in and week out at the Premier League level.

But he would undoubtedly gain hugely from working on a daily basis with a higher standard of players, while also giving Pochettino and his coaching staff a better opportunity to gauge exactly where Yedlin currently is in his development and what would be the best next step for him.

Perhaps that next step would involve regular football for Spurs. It would more likely involve another loan, either back to Seattle or to another club in England.

Either way, moving to Spurs in January hastens the arrival of that next step and as such is probably a good move for all concerned.