Cavan Sullivan has seven goals and five assists in MLS this season, and six of those goals have come in his last six games. The Philadelphia Union teenager has also been named in the league’s Team of the Matchday seven times, including the past three matchdays in a row. Manchester City moved to secure his future signing when he was 14 in 2024, but the production he is putting up now is the bigger story.
His MLS surge
The pace of the breakout is the point. Sullivan has seven MLS goals this season and five assists, which already reads like the output of an established attacking player rather than a prospect still waiting for his next club move. Six goals in his last six games gives the run real weight, and the three straight Team of the Matchday selections show the league has kept pace with him.
That burst also fits the calendar. Six of his goals and four of his assists have come during August and September, the spell when he has looked hardest to slow down. Since the start of that stretch, the Union have been winning games with Sullivan central to the final action.
The teenager behind the numbers
Sullivan’s age is still the first qualifier, and it is not a small one. At 16 years and 363 days, he became the fourth youngest player to play for the United States, and he started Saturday’s friendly against Peru. Those facts keep the profile grounded, even if the production is pushing him beyond the usual teenage-prospect frame.
Jonathan Tannenwald, speaking to BBC Sport, said: "What I will say about Sullivan is he has the work ethic to go with the talent. As his current manager at the Philadelphia Union, Ryan Richter, said recently, external: 'His outstanding quality is the mentality that he has, and the way that he approaches every game and every day, and that's what pushes him to get better and better.'"
He also said: "I find him to be handling the pressure of everything pretty well," which matches what the numbers are showing. Sullivan is still a teenager, and the caution around any young American star is reasonable, but his current level is hard to dismiss. The form is there, the recognition is there, and the move to City is still ahead, not behind him.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
