I see your point, but why not count Yedlin? Isn't he a regular on the first team for an English Premier League club.

Newcastle is a big club, arguably a bigger one than say Stoke City, despite results in the last ten years.

We've never had a bunch of players at a bunch of big european clubs ever (besides maybe 2010 which is kinda the peak of the 1981-1983 Donovan, Beasley, Onyewu etc generation), We've always had maybe one player at a big club, and a handful at middling ones in first divisions and several at small clubs. Which is basically what we still have now.

It wasn't too long ago that seemed to be changing.

We had several players making strides overseas...but it seems like that's dried up a bit.

we will never have the numbers in top leagues that many of the western european countries are pulling from, but we damn sure have a more talented and deeper pool of players playing in top leagues than panama and honduras.

EPL: Cameron, Yedlin, Danny Williams, Hyndman plus a few others on loan from Premiership (CCV, Zelalem, etc.)
Bundesliga: Pulisic, Wood, John Brooks, Fabian Johnson, Chandler, Johannsson, McKennie, Stanko, Sonora

the player pool also has a few dozen players in the next tier of leagues: English Championship, Bundesliga 2, Mexican Primera Division, and tons to choose from in MLS, which has improved a lot in recent years.

One thing to keep in mind is that it was harder for US players to even qualify to play in England and other euro leagues. I think something must have changed recently as all our younger players are getting contracts, unless they all have dual citizenship