Fresh off helping Sunderland avoid relegation, DeAndre Yedlin tells Goal USA's Ives Galarcep about his roller coaster season, and the important summer ahead.

NEW YORK — For most travelers, a six-hour layover after a transatlantic flight might be a chance to grab a nap, or for the more ambitious, maybe time to sneak in some sight-seeing in Manhattan.

DeAndre Yedlin had other plans.

While most of us were just trying to get through our typical Monday, Yedlin was flying from London to JFK Airport to take part in a video shoot for a new clothing campaign he is modeling for. The sun hadn’t even set yet before Yedlin wrapped up the shoot and hopped in an awaiting SUV to take the rush hour ride to LaGuardia Airport to reach Miami by Monday evening to join his U.S. teammates for the first part of training camp ahead of Copa America.

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The whirlwind day barely fazed Yedlin, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering he just wrapped up a season in England that was a whirlwind in its own right. Yedlin finished a one-year loan spell at Sunderland having established himself as an English Premier League starter, helped the Black Cats avoid relegation, and having set himself up for a summer that could see him be part of his second multi-million dollar transfer in two years.

Not bad for a player who was just beginning his professional career three years ago, and who two years ago went from national team novice to one of the surprises of the 2014 World Cup.

“Time has definitely flown by, especially this season has flown by so fast. It’s crazy to think about,” Yedlin told Goal USA. “There’s been ups and downs, and the whole process has helped me grow that much faster.”

As Yedlin arrives at U.S. camp ahead of Copa America, he finds himself in a considerably different position than he was in just two years ago, when he was a surprising invitee to the 2014 pre-World Cup U.S. camp, and then a shock inclusion in Klinsmann’s World Cup roster.

“I’m not a veteran by any means, but I’m definitely a lot more comfortable in the group,” Yedlin said. “I kind of know what’s expected so that’s good. You definitely can go into it feeling confident, because I know how it is as a young player going in. It’s tough because you don’t know how the guys are going to be, and you don’t know exactly what’s expected of you.”

As this summer’s Copa America approaches, Yedlin comes in experienced and considered a leading candidate to be the starting right back for the the U.S. If Yedlin does shine at Copa America, it will be due in large part to the considerable growth he experienced as a player at Sunderland, where he endured a coaching change, a benching, and doubts about his ability to compete, before eventually overcoming adversity and playing the best soccer of his young career.

In order to achieve that, Yedlin had to hit rock bottom and feel the sting of failure that tested his resolve and forced him to do some soul searching.

Rock bottom came last December, when Yedlin was pulled from Sunderland’s match against Watford after just 20 minutes. Watford gave Sunderland all sorts of problems in the early going, and Yedlin committed turnovers that put the Black Cats under pressure.

The quick hook came from Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce, and all Yedlin could do was sit on the bench briefly before heading to the locker room early and showering rather than spending the rest of the first half trying to hide the shame.

“If you get taken out after 20 minutes it’s a big blow to you. From that point I lost confidence a little bit,” Yedlin said. “It’s embarrassing, kind of humiliating a little bit, and for the next three weeks it was a period of feeling sorry for myself, that sort of thing, pouting about it.

“That’s when I said ‘Alright, you’ve got to do something about it. Nobody’s going to help you improve except yourself. If you don’t want it then nobody’s going to want it for you’.”

Yedlin spent the better part of two months on the Sunderland bench, but continued to work hard and eventually found an opportunity when then starting right back Billy Jones suffered an injury against Liverpool. Yedlin stepped into the lineup and did well.

“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,” Yedlin said. “Mentally I was a lot stronger. I also really tried to focus on my defensive game and learn as much as I could from who was playing on the field at the time.

“Billy Jones, positionally, is unbelievable," he added. "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. Obviously I have the speed to make up for it, but if I can be positionally sound then I can elevate my game on the next level."

Yedlin also credits his breakthrough, at least in part, to an unlikely source of inspiration.

“I read a book, it’s called "Maximum Achievement", and something about the book just clicked in my head," Yedlin said. “I don’t really know what it was, but it just clicked. It said to write down your goals, and as soon as I read that I wrote them down for one month, two months, three months, six months and a year.

“I literally said that after the Liverpool game that I was going to start every game for the rest of the season, I wrote that down and it happened.”

Yedlin became a mainstay for Sunderland, helping the Black Cats avoid relegation, and even helping set up the Jermain Defoe goal that ultimately secured safety.

Now with that mission accomplished, and his Sunderland loan over, Yedlin is headed to U.S. camp determined to win the starting right back spot he is considered the favorite to occupy this summer.

Yedlin isn’t about to take for granted that he will be Klinsmann’s choice to start at Copa America, but anyone who watched him at Sunderland saw a player who had improved tremendously, particularly defensively.

“Defensively I feel very comfortable, which is something that I’ve never felt before,” Yedlin said. “Obviously with the national team it’s a bit different because you’re expected to attack a little bit more than with Sunderland.

“Obviously I’m a defender first, and Jurgen’s always said that to me when I’m playing right back, you’re a defender first, but my game is obviously an attacking game,” he added. “But now that I’ve finally gotten comfortable with defending, I think that statement has finally clicked with me. There’s obviously moments in the game where you don’t need to get forward, and there’s moments in the game where defensively you have to focus a lot more than attacking.

“It’s finally clicked in my head for some reason. It seems like It’d be easy, an easy thing to get, but it’s finally clicked and things are going smoothly.”

The Copa America Centenario is a very important tournament for Yedlin. Not only because it will be played in his home country, but also because scouts from all over Europe will be watching and deciding whether he is someone worthy of a major transfer bid.

Yedlin is currently on the books at Tottenham, but a return to Spurs next season appears very unlikely. The most likely scenario will be a transfer expected to exceed the size of the deal that sent him from the Seattle Sounders to Tottenham two years ago.

Sources have told Goal USA that several Premier League clubs have already expressed interest in buying Yedlin, including Sunderland, and that list could grow longer if Yedlin shines this summer.

Yedlin is open to a return to Sunderland, though he says he won’t be focusing much on his club situation until later this summer.

“It’s definitely a door I would not close. I would not mind going back (to Sunderland)," Yedlin told Goal USA. “I had a great time there.

“I’m keeping all doors open, I don’t want to shut any right now. Any opportunity that is offered to me is a big opportunity. When you’re dealing with the Premier League, it’s still unbelievable to think that I’m playing in the Premier League.

“I don’t want to close any doors right now,” he continued. “I’ll just keep my head down and perform at Copa America. Obviously if I can have a good tournament here it’ll impress a lot more people.”

Yedlin has already impressed plenty of people with the year he just had at Sunderland, a year that saw him mature a considerable amount. Though he is still young at 22, Yedlin considers him a much, much different player now than he was even a year ago.

“Sometimes that’s all you need, is a year of playing, that little bit of confidence,” Yedlin said. “You look at Harry Kane, two years ago coming back from loan and playing, he comes back to Tottenham and absolutely kills it and is now England’s number one striker.

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