👀https://t.co/emdRRpaqAX https://t.co/5zWO024h1V pic.twitter.com/0dkpgRPD7Q— We Are Being Overrun in Midfield (@OverrunMidfield) May 9, 2024
MLS streams about 5 semi-random second team games on their youtube channel per week. The rest of the MLS Next Pro games are only available with an MLS Apple subscription.
Yeah, I watch a lot of MLS Next Pro. The level is closer to MLS than it is to MLS Next U17. Across the league most team’s average ages are in the 20s, and they’re guys who at minimum went to college and had a lot of success. In MLS Next a lot of those defenders aren’t going pro and will max out as a bench option for a mid major NCAA program. MLSNP is pros. Yes, there’s a lot of kids still, but most of them will be at minimum USLC level pros when all is said and done. Sullivan is going to have to adapt to the intensity of the MLS Next Pro game. It’s a big learning curve. Cruz Medina isn’t over it. Santiago Morales isn’t over it. Carrizo is looking strong this season but even he can disappear from games when teams shut him out. The good thing for Sullivan is that the Union are ridiculously good and just crushing the league. There won’t be any expectations that he has to take on the bulk of the offense right away.
In one of the interviews i watched yesterday im pretty sure they said he has a minor injury right now and will start training with the first team "next week".
Cavan Sullivan is getting mainstream media attention. Was on SportsCenter and on national morning news talk shows. Now a headline in the WSJ pic.twitter.com/baOx6i0a1N— USMNT 🇺🇸 Thoughts (@USMNT_Thoughts) May 14, 2024
Too much hype. Hope it doesn't hurt him like it did Adu. I guess if you're that good you have to learn to deal with it. being Messi must be like being Elvis and having no privacy anywhere in the world.
I think one of the differences with Adu is that MLS doesn’t have the infrastructure built in like it has now in terms of youth teams, MLS Next Pro, etc. Adu had to be with the first team because there was nowhere else he could go and they had to play him because he was high profile. MLS was so early in its development and you didn’t have anything like the Union have today. And while I don’t think MLS did Adu any favors I don’t think it’s questionable that there were some maturity issues on Adu’s end as well. And the mentality that you need to be a great player is completely intangible and hard for any of us on the outside to have a good sense of. By all reports Cavan Sullivan is fine in this regard but we’ll find out as he advances. With Messi I feel like the only thing that’s comparable with an athlete was Michael Jordan in his prime. It’s like the equivalent of the Beatles coming to town.
Cavan Sullivan makes his first injury report Andre Blake is officially questionable for tomorrow’s game against NYCFC. Cavan Sullivan being on the injury report is not alarming. Ernst Tanner mentioned last week he was dealing with a small knock. pic.twitter.com/PkNFvBlj1i— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) May 14, 2024
Let's all go overboard and celebrate his first time on the injury list! I will maybe be checking in to their games down the line to see if he gets subbed in. Probably during competitions where their main players are gone would be an optimum time.
If Philly are serious about developing this kid his minutes split for the rest of this season should be like 90-95% MLS Next Pro and 5-10% MLS...
It would not be surprising if he makes his MLS debut in June. Daniel Gazdag will be gone for about a month plus with Hungary for the Euros. Definitely would not be a shock if both Cavan and David Vasquez make their MLS debuts next month, as well as play in Next Pro.
When does Cavan Sullivan have to make his MLS debut by to break the record for youngest player in MLS history? I would bet he makes his debut before that date. Edit: 1. Freddy Adu 14 years, 306 days April 3, 2004 D.C. United Cavan Sullivan was born September 28, 2009 which makes him 14 years 7 months 16 days
Well those were both before my lifetime in terms of when either was in their prime so that I can’t say much about.
Feels likely that will be the approach. Next season is when you really want to see him get more time with the first team and even then he’ll still be fairly young and you don’t want to overload him by doing too much too fast.
I'm surprised the club is letting him give interviews to the media. Not sure it's the greatest idea either.
I mean it seems like he wants to do it. The way everyone was talking about him at the press conference the whole organization thinks he's absolutlely the real deal. It sounds ridiculous to say about a 14 year old but maybe he real is just different. I am hoping for the best and think we all should sit back and enjoy the show.
And, I'm sure that was addressed before he signed with Philly. He's a professional, and they are not going to treat him with kid gloves. He will be treated like a professional and coached through everything that comes with that -- endorsements, media, etc.
Philadelphia knows he won’t be there long. Let’s be real, a 14 year old who won’t be there past 18 (and possibly 16) isn’t being signed to provide immediate ability for the first team. They are going to market him as much as possible while he’s there and then hope he goes onto great success in Europe so they can market it some more.
No Sullivan for Philly2 today. Must still be hurt. Guessing we see him next weekend coming off the bench.
Shouldn't he be playing in more MLS Next Pro games? Cavan Sullivan in first team training with Philadelphia Union 👀Debut coming soon? pic.twitter.com/NpSRROH4M4— Youth Soccer Central (@yscentral) May 24, 2024
Sullivan’s family structure (older brother playing for the same club, his dad’s coaching experience) seems much more solid for this journey than Freddy’s (single mom, he was the older brother). I’m optimistic.
We’re only comparing him to Freddy because Cavan is so good. His career has nothing to do with Fredua’s though. Different planets, different solar systems.