USA Football is enjoying a golden generation of talent as the United States develops talent domestically and internationally at a scale and level never before seen in the history of the USMNT.
Still, no one expected the USA to field a player with the kind of hype that 14-year-old Cavan Sullivan is garnering. Now it seems the hype has reached tangibles as a move to Europe is on the cards for a player whose accolades appear to be far beyond his youth.
Hailing from a rich football family and starting his young career at the Philadelphia Union, Sullivan hit the global map at an absurdly young age.
The American youth international is now being targeted by the European giants as he chooses a club to enter his first professional years.
While first team football for a Champions League club is still many years away, Cavan Sullivan and his family must choose wisely to give him the best opportunity to develop and blossom into the player many believe he can be.
Who is Cavan Sullivan?
Cavan Sullivan hails from North Philadelphia, PA, and moved to Norristown at a young age. This proximity allowed him to join the Philadelphia Union Academy in 2020, which trains in nearby Wayne, Pennsylvania, alongside his older brother Quinn, a 20-year-old U.S. youth international who graduated from the Union’s academy and now plays for the first club team.
Cavan Sullivan has earned rave reviews from coaches and scouts around the world. In April 2023, when Sullivan was just 13 years old, Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtain said the youngster “has the ability and the talent to become, I will say it, a household name.” But others would go even further.
Former US international and current ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman said Manchester City scouts told him they believed Sullivan was “the best 14-year-old in the world”, before adding his comment that he was “not wrong”.
Cavan Sullivan now plays for the USMNT U-15 team and won the Golden Ball award for the best player at the 2023 CONCACAF U-15 Championship, which the UMNT won by defeating Mexico 4-2 in the final. He scored three goals in the tournament, all in the group stage, before helping the USMNT dominate possession in the knockout stages.
Philadelphia football is in his family’s blood. Cavan Sullivan’s parents, Brendan and Heike, played collegiate football at the University of Pennsylvania, and his grandfather, Larry, played at Temple before coaching at Villanova for 16 years, during which time he coached current Union head coach Jim Curtin.
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