altidore made his professional debut in 2006 at the age of 16 with the new york red bulls. in the middle of his third season with new york, in 2008, he made a transfer to villarreal for a fee of $10 million. during his time with villarreal, he left on three loan stints – with spanish segunda división club xerez in february–may 2009, english premier league club hull city for the entire 2009–10 season, and turkish club bursaspor where he went on a six-month loan. in the summer of 2011, he made a switch to az in the netherlands. on march 3, 2013, altidore surpassed clint dempsey for most goals by an american in a european club season with his 24th goal of the 2012–13 campaign. during the 2013 summer transfer window, sunderland signed altidore. he spent one-and-a-half seasons there, with a poor goalscoring record, then returned to mls with toronto.