LONDON — DeAndre Yedlin had modest plans for New Year’s Eve 2013. He went to his mother’s house in Seattle. He watched some fireworks on television. He went to sleep.
One year later, his experience was slightly different. Yes, he went to someone else’s house again, but this time Yedlin was invited to Harry Kane’s home here, settling in for a comfortable New Year’s dinner with Kane, a young English striker and Yedlin’s new teammate at Tottenham Hotspur.
“We had pasta and a roast chicken that his missus made,” Yedlin said recently. “It was fantastic.”
That meal was the nominal kickoff to a year that Yedlin, the young defender who was a breakout star of the World Cup for the United States, is hoping will be transformative. While the recent transfers of Jozy Altidore and Mix Diskerud added two more names to the list of high-profile Americans who have left Europe to return to Major League Soccer, Yedlin, 21, who played for the Seattle Sounders for two seasons, has gone the other way. In fact, he said, he never seriously considered staying put.
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He is still finding his way. He found a place to live in central London and is driving, with varying degrees of success, his own car. Exiting the highway from the left remains bizarre to him. Roundabouts are still potential hazards (“I almost crashed the first day and had to ask, ‘Are there rules about these things?’ “ he said). At times, he still mistakenly refers to the distinctive London High Street as “High Road.”
The greater priority is proving he belongs at this level. While other Americans may be heading back to the United States, Yedlin is determined to stay in Europe for the long term.
“My goal is play here forever,” he said, before offering a slight amendment. “O.K., maybe going back to play in Seattle to finish my career would be cool. But I don’t want that to happen for a long, long time.”
A version of this article appears in print on January 27, 2015, on page B10 of the New York edition with the headline: His Heart and Coach’s Advice Take World Cup Star Abroad. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
