Cavan Sullivan could make history this week with the Philadelphia Union.
The homegrown phenom will dress in the Union’s 20-man matchday squad for Wednesday’s home game vs. the New England Revolution (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), head coach Jim Curtin confirmed in his Tuesday media availability.
Philly also host Nashville SC on Saturday (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), just before the MLS All-Star Game presented by Target and Leagues Cup break.
If the 14-year-old features in either match, he will become the youngest debutant among the top North American professional sports leagues (MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL, NWSL). The current youngest MLS debutant is Freddy Adu, who played for D.C. United in 2004 at 14 years and 306 days old.
“Cavan's earned the right to be in the 20 if you just go through the numbers,” Curtin said. “He'll get that opportunity now and the next step is working hard to get your first minutes. Sometimes that might be one minute, that might be 15 minutes, that might be 90 minutes. But you have to earn it and I think Cavan understands that and recognizes it.”
Sullivan signed with Philadelphia in early May, inking the largest homegrown player deal in MLS history. At 14 years and 224 days, he was the fifth-youngest signing in MLS history.
In recent weeks, Cavan has scored in back-to-back games with Philadelphia Union II in MLS NEXT Pro. He also has two assists with the second team across 10 appearances this season.
“When we're at training, there are still two or three moments where he does something where you go, 'Okay I can't teach that. That's something that's ingrained in a young kid where his talent is elite,’” Curtin said.
Should Sullivan make history for Philly, it will mark the start of a sky-bright first-team career.
"I think our fans are going to love watching him play for years to come," Curtin said in mid-June. "The sky's the limit. I do still say he's a generational talent, one who can really change the game by himself and one that has such a quick first step [where] it's maybe something we need too, to unlock a defense, to go 1v1.
"It's a hard thing to do in our game, is to beat the first man. That changes the whole picture of the game in front of you and Cavan certainly has that whether it's at the U-17 level, the second-team level, and now the first-team level in the training sessions that we've gotten to work with Cav. He's only going to get better and better each and every day."
