Philly's management of Sullivan might save a miserable season

Cavan Sullivan GFX

Philadelphia Union’s season has gone sideways, but Cavan Sullivan’s first MLS goal offered a glimpse of why the club’s patient approach with its teenage star may still pay off.

Cavan Sullivan started the play.

And then he finished it.

It was a sequence of making all the right decisions: measured, precise, a little bit grown up. He received the ball on the right, played a floated pass across the box to the left, and then ghosted into the middle. The cut-back came. Two Philadelphia Union players let the ball slide past them. Sullivan tucked home. It wasn't the prettiest first goal in MLS for the 16-year-old, but it was a professional one - clean, incisive, mature.

That strike - if it can be called that - was emblematic of the way the teenager has grown into the Union side over the past few months. Since making his debut at 14 years old - and signed to a pre-contract with Man City shortly before then - Sullivan has been the subject of immense hype. The Union, meanwhile, have wrapped him in cotton wool. There have been calls for a struggling side to rip the handbrake off, to let the kid cook. Instead, his minutes have been managed, and the moments have come.

Indeed, in a season where everything has gone wrong for the Union, a steady hand on a kid still maturing might be the sole shining light - and pay dividends for an immense talent in the long run.

cavan Sullivan 2024

The Prada boots

It started, in truth, with Prada boots. That was the fit that Sullivan donned for the Union's Generation Adidas Cup fixture in March 2024. By then, the rumors had begun about a professional contract - and Premier League move on the way. But nothing was signed, and Sullivan was a 14-year-old who looked the part. But that felt like an entrance into the mainstream. Sullivan was pipped as a star, and he looked like it.

Of course, he played like it, too. Sullivan scored a second half equalizer against the LA Galaxy in the final. They won on penalties. Sullivan was a class above amongst an already solid field of U17s. He was waiting for a moment. And it came.

Things accelerated from there: a debut in MLS NEXT Pro in mid-April 2024. An official homegrown contract on May 9 (the richest in MLS history). The clause, built into his contract, that he would move to Man City on his 18th birthday - in effect making him the most talented 14-year-old in America (if not the world). He debuted on July 17, 2024, and became the youngest player to appear in a league match of any top sport in the U.S (breaking Freddy Adu's record by two weeks).

Cavan Sullivan Philadelphia Union debut

Slowing down

Despite training with the first team and regularly making the bench, Sullivan remained a bit-part player. He made just three MLS appearances in 2024, a number that made sense given that he was still only 14.

The following year brought more opportunity, but not much more clarity. Sullivan made 11 league appearances in 2025, even as he continued to look a level above in MLS NEXT Pro. The Union won the Supporters’ Shield without really needing him. The hype did not disappear, exactly, but it did quiet down. People had not forgotten about Cavan Sullivan. He just was not quite in the mainstream anymore.

So when he told GOAL that he wanted to be on the U.S. roster for the 2026 World Cup - a goal that might not have sounded so outlandish a year earlier - the reaction was more shrug than shock. Sullivan was barely getting MLS minutes. How, then, could he be anywhere near the national team?

By the time the Union were bounced out of the playoffs by NYCFC, it all felt a little unfair on him. Sullivan was thrown on as an 83rd-minute substitute, created one chance, and was left to chase a game that had already mostly passed Philadelphia by. For a player whose future had been discussed in such massive terms, his present still felt oddly small.

Cavan Sullivan Philadelphia Union

A mixed start to the season

This season was always going to be a year of struggle for the Union, and it seemed like a fine opportunity for the 16-year-old to kick on. Coming into this season, it was clear that Philadelphia needed a spark. How about one of the more exciting young creative players in the world to bring it? Instead, Sullivan was held back. He played 25 minutes against Defence Force in the first leg of the Unions' CONCACAF Champions Cup tie - and managed an assist. He followed that with 20 ineffective - if bright - minutes against D.C. United.

He started the second leg against Force, and had a hand in four of the Union's seven goals in a battering. To be sure, there were questions worth asking about the quality of Trinidadian and Tobagonian opposition. But there could be a few qualms about the teenager's sharpness - or ability to play against opponents twice his age. Yet manager Bradley Carnell remained cautious in his approach. Sullivan started every CONCACAF Champions Cup game, but rarely got off the bench in MLS. His first league start came against the Chicago Fire on March 21. He looked misused on the left of a 4-4-2, unable to get into the key creative areas where he thrives. Sullivan tallied more tackles than chances created in 62 minutes - which rather summed things up. Philly lost 2-1.

And that's when the questions started. Why wasn't Sullivan thrown into the fire? Didn't he have to learn anyway?

"There's a legitimate argument that Cavan Sullivan does not fit in the Bradley Carnell system, or his identity. There's a legitimate argument there. So that's the pickle for Philadelphia, and that's a real conundrum. But yes, absolutely, I could make an argument that Cavan's playing regularly for about eight to 10 teams in MLS," Taylor Twellman told GOAL shortly after the Chicago loss.

Cavan Sullivan Philadelphia Union

The Man City question

Meanwhile, the Union continued to slide. It was revealed earlier this week that they have the lowest payroll in MLS, and it showed week in, week out. Sullivan didn't start from March 21-April 25, managing just 49 minutes across four games (he bagged an assist in a 2-1 loss to Charlotte on April 4). Manager Bradley Carnell, meanwhile, was peppered with questions about Sullivan's lack of playing time. He spent most of the time explaining that he picked the starting XI, and Sullivan would be used when ready.

But a quote from March 7 kept cropping back up:

"We’ve been working closely with Man City... Everyone’s having a collective approach to the development, as we do with every player, and we’ve seen good returns so far," he told Apple TV.

So, what, exactly, did that mean? Were City managing Sullivan's minutes in the shadows? Technically, the terms of the agreement here are complicated. Usually, when a player goes on loan, it is in the interest of their parent club to watch from afar. It is their prerogative, too, to recall the player if they so choose. But Man City, technically, do not own Sullivan yet. He is still a Philadelphia player, making Philadelphia money, and playing in Major League Soccer. And even then, to Man City, he is, in effect, an academy prospect. This is not a first-team player getting minutes elsewhere - at least, not in the traditional sense.

Interim Sporting Director Jon Scheer was a bit more specific soon after: "To be really clear, Cavan is our player, and he’s got to perform well here every single day and every single week. So we’re in contact with Manchester City, but yeah, in terms of what Cavan does in our environment, that’s up to us."

So, City are in touch. But Carnell is technically calling the shots.

Coming into his own

And perhaps, in recent weeks, he's looked that little bit more vindicated. Sullivan started against Columbus and played with more freedom on April 25. His performance in a scoreless draw with Nashville a week after was even more compelling - yet Carnell still limited him to 70 minutes (despite the fact that he was arguably the Union's best player on the day). A solid shift against the Revolution - a game in which the youngster completed the most dribbles on the pitch - followed.

Then there was Wednesday night. The Union lost a basketball game. Their 4-3 defeat to Orlando City was a chaotic thing, the kind of game that most managers tend to hate. Sullivan didn't actually start - he was operating on three days rest, something that has given Carnell pause all season - but he came on for the injured Jovan Lukic after 43 minutes. The second half wasn't quite a masterclass, but it was his best performance in MLS to date. The game was wide open. It needed a spark. And he provided it. The youngster created five chances, was a livewire in the final third, and deserved his goal. A late penalty denied them a 3-3 draw.

And perhaps this is where the dividends come in. The youngster has been steadily worked into the lineup, and his minutes have increased over time. That's an immense positive in a torrid season. The Union, remember, have won just one game all year. They lost a number of key pieces over the winter. Their sporting director, Ernst Tanner, is still under investigation and on leave for troubling allegations of workplace misconduct. Top to bottom, this has been a remarkably poor year. They are always a team that has relied on youth. Maybe Sullivan is the next big one. In fact, he really should be.

Cavan Sullivan 2025

Preparing for a stronger future

That would make sense. This is a sport where young players are tasked with big minutes from early on. Lamine Yamal, now 18, has been playing 3,000 minutes per season for almost three years. Sullivan is on track to hit 1,000 this year. At the same age, Lamine had nearly 6,000 in his legs. The same goes for other stars who broke out young: Bukayo Saka, Ansu Fati, Pedri, and Gavi all spring to mind. Of course, all of those were difference makers at elite teams, thrown into the fire and quickly able to prove their worth. There was also a sense of need for all of them.

Sullivan, to be sure, is different. This is MLS, not a top-five European league. The Union are also pretty set at his position - even if injuries did force him into the game on Wednesday night.

Philadelphia aren't winning because of him. They're not winning without him, either. But what they can certainly hang their hat on is the careful management, improvement, and development of a young talent. And in a woeful season, that might just be enough. By the time next year rolls around, Sullivan will be 17 - and have plenty of carefully-managed minutes under his belt. Perhaps that's when the Union can kick on a bit.

After all, there's always next year.