AFTER A LENGTHY STRETCH in which American outfield players were consistent contributors to a number of English Premier League clubs, we now find ourselves in a historically dry—compared to the last decade or so, at least—spell for Yanks in the world’s most popular league. With Brek Shea’s loan move, Jozy Altidore and Geoff Cameron are the only two American outfield players anywhere near the first team of an EPL club. Unfortunately, even their respective situations are far more complicated than would be ideal.

Now that we have a little more information regarding this infant EPL season, let’s take a look at Altidore and Cameron’s prospects moving forward.

Geoff Cameron

Right Back/Center Back/Defensive Midfield
Stoke City
The Cameron situation looked very promising around the start of the season, when several Premier League and Bundesliga clubs were rumored to be interested in Cameron and they were willing to grant him his wish to play as a central defender. But a move never happened, and Cameron has yet to appear in any of Stoke’s first three league games. To make matters worse, yesterday Cameron underwent a minor hernia surgery that will keep him out for a few weeks.

Upon his return, it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be as much of a guaranteed starter as he’s been for the past two seasons at Stoke. New right back Phil Bardsley is no pushover, so Cameron’s best route back into the first team might be at center back. The issue there is that Stoke has never seemed to favor Cameron at that position. Further, Stoke has had a strong start to the season defensively, conceding just twice in three games, including a historic shutout win at Manchester City. With those kind of defensive performances thus far, it’s unlikely that manager Mark Hughes will be too keen to switch things up.

But it’s not all doom and gloom for Cameron. Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross is nailed on to play every game at one center back spot, but his current partner in the center is Marc Wilson, a talented Irish international but also one who has played more frequently as a midfielder than as a center back for Stoke. With that said, Wilson played the second half of last season in central defense and did a fine job (as he’s continued to do this year), so Cameron certainly has his work cut out for him.

The other option is defensive midfield, where Cameron played for Stoke in the League Cup before withdrawing with the injury that required surgery. But this doesn’t seem like a particularly promising avenue, as Steven N’Zonzi is a star in that position and Charlie Adam and Steve Sidwell provide further quality in the center of the pitch.

In sum, Cameron has his work cut out for him. With that said, knowing Cameron, don’t bet against him regaining a starting place—who knows where?—shortly after he’s healthy.

Jozy Altidore

Striker
Sunderland
Altidore at Sunderland Vol. II is off to a predictably uninspiring start. That’s not a knock on Altidore, but rather a near inevitability given his delayed return to Sunderland’s preseason work as he recovered from his World Cup hamstring injury. In Sunderland’s first three games, the big center forward has come off the bench each time.

Now it’s up to Altidore to make his move into the Sunderland starting XI. It doesn’t hurt his prospects that Sunderland’s starting strikers—Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher—have failed to contribute much to start the year, with neither player scoring or assisting in three starts. Even more importantly, Sunderland failed to secure a deadline day deal with forward Fabio Borini, a near-guaranteed starter for the Black Cats last season while on loan from Liverpool.

The bigger problem than competition from Fletcher and Wickham, though, is the lack of quality service Altidore will receive if and when he gets a start or two. This limits his chances of scoring, as he’s never been the type of player who has thrived on creating his own shot.

However, summer signings Jack Rodwell and Will Buckley should prove a significant upgrade compared to Sunderland’s options last time around. Buckley looks especially promising, and the sooner Altidore can strike up a partnership with the young winger, the better. Still, Rodwell and Buckley aren’t exactly Fabregas and Hazard, so Altidore still won’t get the type of service he’d prefer.

Given the relative lack of quality of Sunderland’s other strikers, all it will take is a goal or two from Altidore to lock down a starting place—let’s see if he can deliver sooner rather than later.

Is it good, bad, or neutral for American soccer to have so few players in the EPL? Is this the year that Altidore finally breaks through as a productive EPL player? Let us know in the comments section below.

Blake Thomsen is a frequent ASN contributor. Follow him on Twitter.