Top 66 DeAndre Yedlin Quotes

For me, that’s the biggest thing, if something holds me back it’s my mental game so I really tried to focus on that and just worked on that.

I was fortunate to be raised in Seattle, which was amazing, but that doesn’t take away from the fact I was still a black kid growing up in America.

When you’re the younger guy, you’re kind of only looking after yourself. Obviously you have to be a bit selfish in terms of what you’re doing. But when you’re the older guy you have to look out for the younger guys as well. If they’re making mistakes, they need help, then you help them.

Obviously the chance to work with Rafa, there’s not really a better situation I could be in. He’s great. He takes his time with you. One-on-ones, he’ll stay out after training for another hour if you need it. He’s been one of the best managers I’ve had.

I want to be in the World Cup.

Life in Newcastle has been a lot more similar to life in Seattle, which has been great. The city is relaxed but, just like Seattle, Newcastle’s passion for their team is second to none. You get recognized walking down the street or when you’re around town.

I want people to know about my story and where I came from.

There are things you have to look at with those world-class players, but at the end of the day, they’re not superheroes. They’re still human.

You can see it with social media and things like that, back in the day it was harder to convince people that the police are wrong, which sounds crazy, but that’s how it was back then.

In England, especially, mentally if you’re not strong it can eat you up. There’s the media, all the negativity surrounding footballers. If you’re not mentally strong, it can eat you.

Seattle is the place where you can really find any kind of food, especially Japanese food.

England and the U.S. definitely have their differences and similarities.

The fans just see what’s going on on the field, but there’s a lot more that goes into it behind the scenes.

Every international career is going to come to an end you’re going to pass it down to the younger generation. Every career comes to that point.

I’m an attacking full-back.

I knew there was no money in track and field unless you were unbelievable. So I stopped it when I was 13. I just really wanted to focus on soccer and with soccer training and high school, it would have been too much if I did track and field as well.

When I was younger if I was in someone else’s shoes, if you saw a professional athlete you’d want to go up and introduce yourself and ask a couple questions, so I definitely know where they’re coming from.

A lot of people ask me what has been the biggest change with me being in England and a lot of people expect me to say something related to football, but mostly it’s just growing up and becoming a man.

For me, I can’t eat healthy 100 percent of the year. There’s obviously those little times where you have to eat something that’s not great for you, but you just need comfort food.

I’ve always been fast, it’s God-given talent. I just try and use that to my advantage, but I’m learning more and more positionally so I don’t have to rely on my pace so much.

The Premier League is one of the top leagues in the world and I’m a guy that likes to challenge myself, so just to be able to practice against those types of players and play against them every weekend is a dream come true.

I think positionally I’ve improved. One vs. one I feel more comfortable. I knew that was going to come – obviously that’s the kind of thing that comes with experience.

I want to keep getting better.

Competition all over the field is great.

If my path is with Tottenham then it’s with Tottenham.

At fullback you have a little bit more defensive responsibility. You have to help out with your center backs a little bit more. As a wing back, you can be a little bit more aggressive with getting forward.

Confidence is a funny thing, and sometimes that’s all you need is just that little bit to elevate you to the next level.

I’m really trying to work on my defensive positioning.

That’s the No. 1 thing you need to have, to believe you can win.

I like Daniel Alves, I have him as my inspiration.

Billy Jones, positionally, is unbelievable. He’s not the fastest guy but he makes up for it by being positionally sound, so I really tried to focus and absorb where he would be in certain situations and just tried to add that in my game.

First and foremost my obligation is on the defensive side. But obviously there are times when I need to go and attack, too.

I love the Premier League. It’s obviously a very talented league.

I’m not a practicing Jew but my great-grandparents were. It’s part of our family history.

I try to value every day, every training session, every game.

You never want to be too comfortable because that’s when you start to get complacent and start doing those little stupid things and getting too relaxed.

I like to attack obviously.

That comes with any position, you play it more and more and you get comfortable.

Every kid dreams of playing in the Premier League.

It’s good to defend a player that’s as fast as me because I have to learn.

I feel like I’ve improved immensely in terms of my defending, not only in one-versus-ones but also with my positioning.

In the midfield, I’m not the most comfortable playing with my back to the goal, and in the midfield you find that ball a lot.

Before, sometimes if the ball was played over my head I wouldn’t know where I was but now I feel a lot more comfortable. Sometimes I would be going forward when it really wasn’t the right time to go too, but now I’m picking my moments better.

Everybody tells me they don’t know how I have so much energy, and I think people feed off that, which is great.

I think one of the biggest things is I wasn’t spoiled as a kid. I got what I needed. I didn’t always get what I wanted. But it’s good to have what you need.

Nobody wants to look stupid by celebrating on offside goal.

My grandfather, my grandmother especially, I have a whole family of activists, they’ve always told me to stand up for what I believe in.

As a player, you love to play in front of a big crowd.

I think I just have the mentality that I’m always hungry.

As a wing back, when you get the ball wide, you usually don’t have any help out wide. You have to be pretty good on your own out there.

I think every player aspires to challenge themselves against the very best and that’s what I’m hoping to do.

As a player if you win 10 in a row and you lose one, or you lose 10 in a row, you are still going to be angry when you lose. It’s the nature of the game.

Once you start to become OK at something, you learn to enjoy it more.

I was raised to always be humble.

I’m maturing as a person and as a player.

I’m fine with just a simple life.

If you don’t want competition, I think it means you’re scared and you can get a little bit comfortable.

It’s a league that you really have to get used to. If you’re coming from another one, it’s a tough league. Getting the experience playing in a Premier League team and getting hopefully consistent games will be huge for me.

You’re going to have highs and lows, but it’s how you get through the lows.

When you face any adversity in life those are the kind of lessons you can take and remember. Those are the things that are going to help me not just in football but in life, which is priceless.

The reason I joined Newcastle was because I could see we could do great things.

Oh, I grew up in Seattle.

A lot of people don’t realise how mentally tough the Premier League is.

I think if you put a timeframe on things, you can start rushing things and getting away from the goals, so I try to take it day by day and make sure I keep improving.

If you get taken out after 20 minutes it’s a big blow to you.

I think the fact people still don’t realise why people are taking a knee and saying ‘Black Lives Matter,’ people are being so close-minded to the fact that no one is disrespecting the flag, nobody is saying all lives don’t matter.