Good morning! American pro soccer teams have been signing players as young as 13 or 14 years old for a while now, so Cavan Sullivan’s signing with MLS’s Philadelphia Union at the age of 14 is, in that regard, no big deal. What is unusual is his record (by a lot) Homegrown contract valued at around $500,000 a year. In baseball terms, he’s a bonus baby. In American soccer terms, he’s considered the next Christian Pulisic or next Gio Reyna. Both moved to Borussia Dortmund when they were 16 because they possessed European passports. Sullivan, whose late grandfather, the University of Pennsylvania professor Klaus Krippendorf, was German, could have followed them in Europe in two years, but he chose the Union with which his family has close ties. Brexit means that he’ll have to wait until he’s 18 to move to Manchester City in England.
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