It’s the schedule of a kid who thinks he might be in a place where his team won’t have an attached school next year, I think. I think many people could graduate HS early … especially if they aren’t preparing for college. My understanding is YSC has a decent chunk of independent study. I do think Cavan would be well served to stay in MLS until he’s Best XI caliber like guys like Adams, Aaronson, Davies, etc. did. Rather than sit on the bench somewhere. And I don’t think it would take long … maybe by the end of this year. But he might also be gone in the summer.
That school IS YSC Academy.......they relocated it from Wayne, to the Union's campus in Chester. https://yscacademy.com/ The address for the school on their website is the Union's campus in Chester now. Also all opf the branding on their school is YSC Academy.
Oh cool. I thought they dropped the YSC name, which I thought was just the name of the old facility. Supposedly, they are much closer with the school operations after they moved.
Its weird. The opposite often happens. Plus, the case of Cavan Sullivan is just different. Just to be cranky on a Monday morning, I'll pursue the argument. Dallas had this history of signing their young players to contract extensions, and then selling them within a year. The contract extensions were just about protecting their investment more than anything else. Example? Bryan Reynolds contract extension in September of 2020 FC Dallas Homegrown Bryan Reynolds Signs New Four-Year Contract | FC Dallas Bryan Reynolds sold months later to Roma at the end of the subsequent January 2021 window. FC Dallas’ Bryan Reynolds close to joining AS Roma: Sources - The Athletic Example number dos: Ricardo Pepi new contract in July of 2021 FC Dallas Homegrown Ricardo Pepi Signs New Contract with FC Dallas | FC Dallas Ricardo Pepi sold to Augsburg in the subsequent January 2022 window. USMNT star Ricardo Pepi completes $20 million move to Augsburg from Dallas - ESPN I can provide more examples if folks want. Example number tres. Reggie Cannon signs contract extension with Dallas in March of 2020 Reggie Cannon Signs New Four-Year Contract with FC Dallas | FC Dallas Reggie Cannon sold to Boavista in September of 2020 FC Dallas transfer Reggie Cannon to Portugal's Boavista FC | MLSSoccer.com This idea that MLS club hold young players hostage when Euro offers come in is so..................20 years ago. And it wasn't even true then. Clubs just aren't going to give their players away. 20 years ago Euro clubs thought they could lowball MLS clubs for bargains. Not happening. Also, don't tell me an MLS club isn't selling a young player to Europe if you can't provide me with what a Euro offer was. Kellyn Acosta is a great example. Don't tell me Dallas was holding they young Acosta hostage if you can't provide me a link with what a European offer was. Philly is the same. What young players is Philly tricking into signing a contract extension and then preventing them from moving to Europe. Please tell me. Are they holding a gun to the heads of young players and forcing them to sign conract extensions? Maybe, actually, a player like Quinn Sullivan IS HAPPY with the Union. He signed a lucrative contract extension in 2024 that's keeping him there thru 2027 (w/club option thru 2028). He gets paid 500k a year.
MLS is all in on the transfer money these days and the data shows it. There will always be some case where the player and club don't see eye to eye but there are so many successful transfers I'm not sure why we need to cling to old data.
I'm not sure if injuries are an issue here as I am not a Union fan and I haven't followed them all that closely (as of yet, that is changing with Sullivan's emergence). But it seems like the Union are starting to look to Sullivan to be the guy and we are still in the early stages of that and the performances/every possession is hit or miss. Hopefully it smooths out asap and he really shines as the engine of the team and Sullivan is a big part of lifting the Union up.
The challenge that Cavan is going to have is that he’s a very good and incisive passer, but the Union’s set of strikers is largely straight trash. Iloski is more of a 10, and plays striker that way. He’s actually good, but he’s not the guy to make runs behind the defense that Cavan can hit — he’s more of a playmaker and so spends a bit of time almost competing with Cavan for the ball. Damiani is awful; a terrible buy. A striker whose only asset is an okay hold up game. The other guys may have some potential but are young and very raw; none of these guys are making any runs for Cavan to provide service. Philly let their two best strikers go in the offseason and it was a massive mistake.
The thing is there isn’t a great next step for him in the City Football Group. Girona isn’t even a guarantee to stay in La Liga. Troyes is getting promoted but then you’re playing for a relegation battling team most likely which isn’t a great situation for an offensive player. Palermo and Lommel also have a chance to go up I guess. Though the best option is probably their team in Brazil. Whereas I think by the end of this season it’s going to be clear he’s ready for takeoff and is going to be an all star type player the following year.
I think it’s very unlikely he goes anywhere but a team in the City Football Group if he leave Philly.
In what I have to imagine is bad news for Cavan, Pep is gone, too. I really wonder if he would’ve signed for City over the other options if he knew that was going to happen.
Feels like given his age it was always likely he was never going to play for Pep. It’s not like he’s expected to go over there at 18 and immediately slot into the first team.
Who knows? We endlessly talked about the path for somebody like Gabriel Slonina, with the misplaced assumption that they wouldn't pay 10 million and then let him rot. WIth Cavan, they don't necessarily need to loan him to a City Group club if it doesn't make sense. Yes, they have young players like Argentine Claudio Echeverri and Brazilian Vitor Reis at Girona. But they've also loaned players around to other clubs not in the City Group network. Jahmai Simpson-Pusey to Cologne, Divine Mukasa to Leicester, Stephen Mfuni to Watford, blah, blah, blah. By the way, GIrona is in the relegation zone of La Liga with one game to play. They can save themselves with victory over Elche on the last day.
It’s extremely unlikely he would get loaned to a non City Football Group team before he’s officially at City though. Especially at his age. What team in a decent league is going to take a 16 year old they don’t own and give him real minutes? Once he gets to City you may see a loan elsewhere though. As that’s the case with all the players you mentioned loaned outside CFG (who are all older than Cavan as well). His most likely path is like Palmer, Lavia, Trafford, etc. City have a very good academy and use it to fund signings for their first team and comply with PSR rules.
He turns 17 in September 2026. He isn’t going anywhere this summer. So, no, nobody is going to be taking Sullivan on loan in Europe at 16.
I mean if he’s going over the time to go would be this summer so he could do preseason with his new team (when he’ll be 16). And what club in a league better than MLS is likely to take him and promise a real opportunity for minutes at that age? And you also don’t want it to be a team at the bottom of the table battling relegation. Do you think a team like PSV or Real Sociedad would take him on loan and offer him real minutes? Cause he can’t go to the Championship till he’s 18 either. And so we’re looking for first division clubs in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, or Portugal who are good enough to create attacking opportunities but also enough in need of a player of his age and talent level that he’ll get real minutes despite it only being a loan.
I'm totally with you. I personally don't expect him to go to Europe at 18. So I expect him to also be with Philly next year. When we look at the clubs that City loaned players to this year.....................did they loan players to Troyes, Lommel, Palermo, etc.? No. They loaned only a couple to Girona. What City does with Cavan when goes will depend on how he does with Philly. If the next period with Philly goes as we want, then Claudio Echeverri is a good model of what could happen. The young attacking central midfielder they signed from River Plate. They actually kept him at River Plate on loan for the full calendar year of 2024. Then brought him over in 2025, and he played a little with the first team off the bench in the spring of 2025. For 2025-2026, they loaned him to Leverkusen. THey weren't happy with his playing time, so recalled him and sent him to Girona. He's played a lot for GIrona in the 2nd half of this season. He's now 20. What's also true is that the City first team keep spending money on the best wingers and attacking midfielders in the world. They didn't just keep a spot available for Echeverri. Rayan Cherki is 22 years old for Pete's sake. Where is he going????? We all understand the standard required to get into that team.