Watched him today. He is going to be a really good player. Still very young to stand out overall in a MLSNP match, but definitely has some stand out moments. Really good weaving run for his assist, although the Chicago GK made an absolute mess out of it.
🇺🇸 WHAT A RUN FROM 14 YEAR OLD CAVAN SULLIVAN FOR HIS 3RD PROFESSIONAL ASSIST 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/KdbvwclWsu— American Ultras Talk (@ameriultrastalk) August 10, 2024
How I've felt as well. We've seen plenty of special talents fail that were hyped to all hell the past twenty years, from Taitague to Zelalem to Junior Flores, from Gyau and Renken heading off to career derailment at Hoffenheim, to Charlie Davies and his car accident, and Stuart Holden's bad luck meeting thuggish idiots to Danny Szetela, Freddy Adu and Santino Quaranta. Why does it happen? Seems like 85% of the time it's: *Injury or *Mental Makeup And then the other 15% of the time, it's some combo of those w/stylistic changes in the game. Maybe Zelalem makes it if he doesn't have a horrendous knee injury AND see the game move away from the slower, Pirlo/Riquelme styled approach he preferred to play, but it did, and so guys like him that aren't great on the defensive end, can't press AND suffer brutal knee injuries, can flame out. Looking at Cavan, it seems pretty simple, if he can stay healthy, and has the proper mental make up, he should be totally fine. If he lacks those things, he won't be. I forgot to mention love of the game too, should probably reference that. Some guys flame out because they are just flat out sick of it, though I do think that's more connected to football, the American version, than soccer (because the physical toll football places on you demands your full commitment at all times in a way few sports do). Anyway, I just kind of feel a sense of panicking that we're going to screw up with him like with Adu 24 years ago and I flat out do not see it. Cavan doesn't have 1/50 the press blitz Adu had 20 years ago. There's a million reasons why: the maturation of the internet and diffusion of attention that came with it, the vast and rapid growth of interest in the big 5 leagues, most particularly the EPL, and to a degree the big teams in other leagues too (PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona etc), the fact that most American soccer fans pay attention to those leagues far more than MLS, the fact that we have a vastly different media environment from 20 years ago, the realities of the development of the US game, and the weariness that has come w/the flameouts of Adu and other lesser known prospects, the fact that Adu came around after our best WC ever, while we missed the '18 WC entirely, the fact that Pulisic, genuinely is, in many ways, the prince that was promised (lead a WC team on his shoulders like Donovan did a decade earlier, got a Champions League Winners Medal and played a key role getting the team there, was if not the best player on freaking AC Milan, damn close to it, etc), I just don't think he has anywhere near the pressure or attention Adu had. And its also worth noting that if you followed the Adu Podcast from Wahl and other reporting, there are a 1000 fathers of his failure. Too much too fast. No League Infrastructure set up to help develop him in the way Cavan has been developed. Family was actively a distraction and eventually a HUGE problem (as he entered his 20's in particular) Mental Make Up Teammates were indeed jealous, and often ----heads in MLS. His coach was now disgraced Peter Nowak. He didn't really have the mental make up, work habits, or dedication. He had immense bad luck w/his clubs, and was too impatient in the most critical moments (as was his family). There are a million reasons why he failed. For now anyway, what can be controlled for Cavan is good: family, club development, and much better than what Adu had in terms of hangers on issues, and a proper framework to refine his game, step by step, and its all being overseen by Manchester city, rather than DC United, and another zillion different clubs each year in Europe. The Mental Makeup and Health piece are out of our control, we just have to hope whats between his ears is what we'd all dream of, immense maturity, intelligence and passion and dedication and discipline, mixed with health luck.... What's happened this summer? It's laughable in my view. Nothing. And as Gogo said above, if it is indeed an issue, already, he's already probably not going to make it anyway. And btw, he turns 15 next month, the age of most high school sophomores. Closer to 16 than he is to 13.
So…how does everyone feel about the 11 year old skateboarder competing at the Olympics? https://olympics.com/en/news/youngest-oldest-athletes-2024-paris-olympics Or how do people feel about college graduates who aren’t old enough to drive yet? https://www.oldest.org/people/youngest-people-to-graduate-college/
At this point I’m fairly confident he will at least be a Pulisic/Reyna level player with injury being the main concern in terms of him not making it.
Or a 16 year old on our track team.................................... 16-year-old Quincy Wilson runs first race with Team USA as they advance to 400-meter relay final: "Dream come true" - CBS News If you're good enough, you're old enough.
Meh, Abu Dhabi have bigger things to think about than a 14 year old who will likely not be worth much over the longer term. He's an investment, and nothing more. Massive clubs do this sort of thing all the time. What's more, Citeh haven't exactly been a club that develops their own, so much as they use their neverending oceans of Oil money to buy whatever finished products they want. FFS, they apparently broke FFP 115 times, what's some pissant 14 year old to them, really? ...which underscores his existence as a piece to sell, not a piece to build upon. Looking across the Yanks Abroad scene, him stoopidly going to a massive multinational conglomerate means that he'll likely run into bench-rot more likely than not. [See: Gaga to Chelski as an example of what Sullivan is likely to be.] And I'd trust the history of the game, where even Mbappe had to start at a tiny club, before Monaco came calling, and THEN PSG, before finally transferring to madrid. Its weird that random people on Big Soccer are so certain that Sullivan can skip all those steps and sign for a club like citeh, for like, "reasons" or something.
Shouldn't have been there, almost costed us place in the final. Hope that's not how Cavan looks when he starts for the MNT.
Because he's not skipping those steps. He's signing with the City Group and not just City. So the path for him will go thru all of those affiliates. Maybe he starts at the City academy and then goes to Troyes in France, and then Palermo in Italy, and then to Girona in Spain.. Maybe he never reaches City. Who the hell knows? The City group is also reportedly considering the purchase of a team in Holland. They tried to acquire NAC Breda, but that didn't work out. That's just the way world soccer is going. Just like Caleb Wiley signing for Chelsea and going on loan to their affiliate Strasbourg.
I get what you’re saying, and in principle, you are correct. However, in this case his pre-contract agreement is with Manchester City FC. You can’t sign for the conglomerate. Other than that, all the CFG clubs will be on the table for him, most likely as a loan just like Wiley.
Yeah, the ADHD-afflicted Chelsea plan ain't gonna work out too well. That is, if you even believe that they even HAVE a plan. [8 GK, anyone?] Chelsea are the meth-addled teenager who just sign whatever player they've heard of most recently, regardless of cost, and without a realistic plan; Look for Wiley to engage in bench-rotting sooner, rather than later.
What's more, the sovereign wealth fund conglomerates are behaving in an anti-competitive manner that may or may not pass muster in the EU; Citeh are doing things that Red Bull never dreamt of doing, and this may likely catch up with them. Even before Sullivan gets to Europe.
The point is that we don't know what City's plan is for Cavan Sullivan, other than stashing him at Philadelphia until he's the right age to move. I highly doubt the plan for him is to move right to City, but nobody knows. It all depends on performance. They're bringing the Brazilian Savinho in from their affiliate Troyes this year. This is just the way football works in 2024. City isn't the only big club that wanted Cavan Sullivan (reportedly). Its just the path the Sullivan family chose.
We know their plan. If he’s good enough to play at City at 16, he will. If not, they will decide to a) play him in the Academy to get accustomed to their game model or b) determine which of their CFG clubs they could loan him to in order to advance development and best prepare him for PL football.
Nah, no "raging," like, at all here. That said, of the actual contributors in Citeh's roster [not the English placeholders meant to allow them to comply with "homegrown" regs], only 1 player is a Citeh product. So nah, this kinda-sort ain't the way football works in 2024, insofar as a player's career path.
He can't play City at 16...... has to be 18 before he can move and play in England according to the laws there. So he'll spend the next 1.5 years or so with the Union and then either stay stateside longer, or go to one or more of the clubs CFG owns on loan until he turns 18.
the solution is to ask Football Manager to add the American nationality to Camarda, and since we're at it to also add the American nationality to Mattia Liberali who played well against Real Madrid (making him change his name to "Matt Liberals")
He has thrown out the first pitch of a Philly's game and did a chicken finger restaurant promo and done some social media...people ITT acting like he is doing more media than prime David Beckham. Yes. He likely got a cameo when Phillly was depleted in large part to break Adu's record, who really cares. Not going to make or break anything with his career. By this point extra media have pretty much died down and Cavan seems to be doing good work with Philly II, which is the level he should be at now.
I don't really understand what you're so upset about. He's a 14 year old prospect. Prospect being a latin word for "hasn't done squat yet." We all know that. None of us know how he'll turn out or what the path will be. And that's true for every 14 year old soccer player on Earth. We have no idea. What we do know is that a team that's an annual participant in the Champions League knockout phase has already purchased him. That's how they view him as a prospect. I'd feel the same way about him if it was Dortmund or PSG or Inter Milan that acquired him. And until he's actually able to move, they'll stash him with Philadelphia. Just like they did with Alex Alcala at the Galaxy academy. Cavan could be the next Christian Pulisic or he could be the next Andrew Carleton. We have no idea. As far as I know, very few of us on this board are professional scouts or talent evaluators. I just don't understand the negativity. That's what I don't get.
Cavan can't be Andrew Carleton. Anybody but him. Carleton was severely athletically limited, his ceiling was very low, it wasn't just clear till age of 17-18. A lot of things good and bad can happen, but at 14 Cavan athletically so far ahead of Carleton of any age that he won't be like him. Throwing away soccer for modeling career or turning himself into bazooka carrying artist, is a larger threat.
Interesting that you are so certain about Cavan while I'm not sure you understand what Gio can become. I say this as CP is getting close to his prime and progression is l Iikely to start slowing. Gio's potential is way higher than CP's, so grouping them in this way is odd. We know that both CP and GR come from soccer families and have great support structure. These two guys are on oath to be the two best USMNT players ever and both fathers were focused on getting their sons into a top academy at 16 of a club that plays and develops young players. Cavan's team is looking to cash in early and have their son playing against adults at 15. Im sure CP could have signed with City at 16 and gio obviously could. So implicitly they don't think Cavan's path wasn't ideal for their sons.
Nope. Just nope. No one is "upset" here. You just don't like someone not having the pom-poms out for a prospect. But you do you. If you wanna jump up and shout and do the splits over this, go right ahead; I've taken a sober view of a prospect. Yes, you don't get posters not leading the student section in full voice over a prospect, as you do. The reality is that he's chosen a massive club that doesn't need him to succeed for them to succeed. And it ain't "negativity" to point out that the overwhelming majority of top players do not, and have not signed to an sovereign wealth find-owned club to start their careers. Especially one that disposes of prospects like a used kleenex. Especially one that buys far more of their players than they develop their own. It ain't "negativity" to point out that the (probable) best player Mbappe on earth had to take several smaller clubs before getting to a citeh-level club, while questioning the wisdom of a kid hoping to skip all of that, for "reasons," or something. Its an entirely fair and sober view to take. But again, you do you.
The whole i dont understand BS is so old and obnoxious. Multiple people have explained multiple different ways. What he is really saying is I have my cheerleading views and I won't listen to anybody else. Id be ok with that, but acting like those of pushing back are crazy and our ideas our incoherent. This is same group of people that criticized Steffen's move. Miazga's move. EPB's move. Slonina's move. However, none of that apparently applies to Cavan.