It's hard finding playing time in Europe at the highest levels. Ask Reyna. Ask Dest, who was deemed surplus to requirements at Barca and Milan. Hell..................Pepi's agent is back at it. Pepi agent on lack of PSV minutes: ‘It can’t continue’ (usatoday.com) So Cavan's signing at the City Group, but we all understand there's risk. Of course there is. It might not work out. Just like it might now work out if he signed for Dortmund (ask Junior Flores) or Ajax (ask Alex Mendez) or any other club people want to mention. Yes, Cavan is reaching for the stars here. Do we not want our players reaching for the stars? For them to settle for less because the path they're currently on is hard?
I don’t think going to City is particularly problematic and also going to Girona at 16 is perfectly fine.
I don’t think it’s problematic, but I also don’t think it’s ideal. Even though it’s the same ownership group, it’s still a different coach, team, etc. you also have the whole language and culture thing. I wouldn’t want to be 16 years old and get dropped off in Spain for 6-9 months without knowing Spanish. And when he gets to 18, city might not have room for him. There’s also the whole thing with the EPL being a very physical league. In the most general sense, city is a good club to be at, but this is like committing to Duke for basketball when you’re in 8th grade, but then finding that Gonzaga might be better for you when you reach 18. Except he will be under contract at that time. to me, it made the most sense for him to sign with the union, then go to a club in Europe that wanted to give him first team minutes right away. That might mean going to an Ajax at 16, or maybe a Leipzig at 17. I just don’t like the idea of tying oneself down so far in advance, as so many things can change. If city are offering life-changing money, then that would be understandable. But from a strictly developmental perspective, I don’t think it’s the best option.
I think the thing for me is that City takes very good care of their young players, even for the ones who never make it into the first team. And it shows in how much they’ve been able to make in sales over the last few years.
I don’t disagree. I didn’t say it was bad. I just think being in the first team of a smaller club that prioritizes developing and selling young players would be better for him at 16-18.
And to be a bit annoying I'll add that it wasn't even really that. He started 4 games, FOUR, in all of the post winter break Augsburg season. 2 in January of '22, 1 game a month late on Feb 27th, none in March, 1 in April, none in May. Then he had a transfer deadline start right before he was loaned to Groningen at the end of August in the '22-'23 season. Four starts in 17 matches. 470ish minutes out of around 1500. He was basically a starter, and then generally one of the last subs of the game periodically. He turned 19 after his first start which is worth remembering. But to me anyway, it was just a bad move, period. Augsburg sucked and were in the midst of one of their worst offensive output seasons in a decade (it might have been their worst) and he wasn't getting minutes. It was very much of a piece w/that collection of bad transfer stories I blather on about: Sargent going to Bremen right as they blow up the team, Altidore at Hull and Sunderland, Sargent at Norwich, anyone to Leeds, it just goes on and on and Augsburg was horrible. I do find it interesting what he managed to do just a few months later with an equally horrible team in Groningen, but unlike a wretched Augsburg, Groningen were willing to turn the keys over to him and let him cook, and he was pretty much the only thing that worked that season for them, suggesting that he actually can produce, even when in dire situations unlike Sargent, and Altidore to name a few.
FTR, I tend to doubt the idea that he planned on returning to Dallas or that it was out of nowhere. Rumors were flying everywhere that he was a lock to leave winter '21-'22 or summer '22 at the latest. Maybe that's wrong, but I tend to doubt it. I could see it being possible that he just didn't consider winter viable until it suddenly came, but I would have been absolutely stunned if he didn't move by summer '22.
I think the key is that for a striker in particular, stay away from teams that are at the bottom of the table who struggle to create chances. Being a 9 is just so dependent on service and in a bad situation you just aren’t going to get chances.
Rumors............................ I could post some other columns with quotes directly from Pepi. What I was trying to counter was the incorrect notion that FCD just sold Pepi to the highest bidder regardless of his wishes. Ricardo, his agent, and his family were enthusiastically on-board with the move to Augsburg. It just didn't work out. Its the same as what's going on with Cavan. This is a move he wants. Will it work out? We'll see.
I don't think it was a good move because going to a team of that quality rarely is, but it was hardly a disaster. He's not the first teenager to go up in level, go to a new team and not start right away. He was out quickly -- though stepping down a level I suspect mostly due to impatience. He also likely got 10% of two decent sized transfer fees. I've found whether in college recruiting or our player moves, they rarely seem to do their own research and thinking, but rather seem to listen a lot to the recruiting pitches.
Yep. Maybe Bob Morocco would know the key relevant stats, but it did seem like Pepi got a couple of chances/nice passes a game to work with, and he basically scored a goal once every 2.5 games, and produced a goal contribution about every other game in all starts across all competitions. Whatever they did Groningen managed to get him a handful of chances on the regular, it wasn't what it seemed like with some other guys where it was a just a barren wasteland, wasn't great, but there were some chances.
I think it was a disaster in that it cost him a World Cup and us him at the World Cup. The move itself was nowhere near the damage personally say, Pulisic wasting an extra two years at Chelsea was, or Reyna being at Dortmund the last 18 months was. He was set behind the 8 ball for 8 months....his club career was not negatively affected so far anyway, got a nice move to Groningen and PSV, even if the PSV minutes have been unacceptably paltry (if understandable).
Union U17s will be on Apple TV at 5:00 today for their round of 16 game. Against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from South Korea.
Never imagined players at this age would be as tall as the ones on Jeonbuck or do Philly have a number of 15yr olds in addition to Cavan? Anyways it’s clear Cavan is their most talented player.
Hit the post in a 1-0 win. Another big dub by the 17s at #GACup.⏩ to :43 for that game winning connection between Harrington and Johnson that has us headers to the Quarterfinals.#DOOP | #BabySnakes pic.twitter.com/gvPoKWqEn5— Philadelphia Union Academy (@phlunionacademy) April 4, 2024
You know Cavan Sullivan is talented because he's already picking up haters... Thread on all Cavan Sullivan mistakes— ⛽️🪁 (@eygleite) April 4, 2024 Well this is the wildest thing I’ve seen today on twitterA brief reminder that Cavan is 14 https://t.co/9GqfRGpjVp— USMNTrev (@Eyesandvibes) April 4, 2024
Cavan Sullivan the Philadelphia Union U17s walking out to play Jeonbuk Hyundai.Lot of talent on the pitch. Philly standouts include Neal Pierre, Anisse Saidi and Jamir Johnson. pic.twitter.com/3ymhJjn8jn— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) April 4, 2024 careful Philadelphia Union U17s advance to the GA Cup quarterfinals with a 1-0 win. The Philly U15s here to celebrate with them. Cool scenes. pic.twitter.com/OHL3sUXmWC— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) April 4, 2024
He's only 14 until September. He's essentially a year or two (or more than two and a half) younger than every teammate.
Not that long after Lebron was on the cover of sports illustrated when he was in high school his team came to play a game against a local high school near me. A ton of people from my high school went and Lebron had a terrible game. And everyone who went back came back and reported that they weren’t impressed and he was nothing special and that they didn’t understand the hype. Now we know roughly 20 years later that the hype was extremely warranted. I say this because the expectation for Cavan Sullivan shouldn’t be that he needs to look like peak Messi every time he steps onto the field. As otherwise noted he’s much younger than every other player on the field and it’s also the case even the best prospects have off games from time to time. The context definitely matters and you also don’t need to over analyze a single game to this extent.
Anyone know if theres a replay available to watch? Absolutely hate navigating apple tv. And off topic if anyone knows how to get apple TV to stop telling you final scores on the graphic for game replays it would be much appreciated
You can go into the settings to have it hide scores. That said, the highlights still appear to you kind of have to glaze over and not look as you select.
Yeah some clown started this back a few months ago w/a Playerhaters Ball level drivel tweet, without the laughs. Twitter remains the sewer of sewers. I made the mistake of following a guy who posted a pretty tweet on great views from weird Tee's on golf courses, and my twitter feed suddenly got stuffed to the gills, with entitled pigs from all manner of exclusive golf clubs around the country. Instant unfollow and block to protect my feed from the chuckleheaded idiots. Twitter was already rough enough pre-Musk, now, good lord.
OT I KNOW but are you talking about the game against George JR his junior year that was at YSU? I was at that game! It was bad. His mother ran on the court and was chasing the officials. He didn't play any defense. To relate it back to Cavan--->>> Lebron getting drafted by Cleveland was a blessing. He is a documented weird dude, but a dude that never had a scandal. Growing up near Cleveland I can tell you that was because the media and entire town wanted him to be a success. Everyone heard rumors of things he did... But Cavan has a great support network in Philadelphia and the club has really proven itself to be a good developer of talent. And MLS has began proving itself as a valuable sellers league in the European market IMO. There is obviously tiers of where talent seems to go, but for most clubs that have astute scouting departments, they know what to make roughly of American talent now.