Teen soccer sensation catches sports world’s attention | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

PHILADELPHIA — Outside the clubhouse, a teenager with short, bleached white hair waited for Bryce Harper. The boy was wearing a Philadelphia Phillies jersey, the brim open, a gold chain against his bare chest. Most kids Cavan Sullivan’s age would be wide-eyed or nervous about meeting the Phillies slugger. Most kids Cavan Sullivan’s age would be begging for a selfie.

Cavan Sullivan isn’t most kids. He never was, ever since he was anointed as football’s next big thing before he could buy a ticket to a PG-13 movie.

At 14 years and 293 days old, Sullivan became the youngest player to appear in a game for any major professional sports league when he made his debut in July for the Philadelphia Union.

The teenage football phenomenon has caught the attention of a former teenage prodigy who knows more about baseball, but also a thing or two about football. Harper is a bit of a football nut. His wife played in college. He sent fans into a frenzy when he celebrated a home run in the MLB London Series with a football-style slide, then roared from the dugout, “I love football!”

Harper has dealt with the heavy expectations that come with landing the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 16. It’s the kind of career Sullivan would love to pursue, the prospect who turns potential into greatness rather than falling back on trite “whatever happened” answers.

“Your skills are amazing, bro. Amazing,” Harper told him that day.

“Have you seen any clips?” Sullivan said.

Yes, Harper has seen some. After Sullivan presented Harper with a Union jersey with the Phillies first baseman’s name on the back, the centerfielder sounded more like a wise veteran of the World Series than a high schooler who needs to hitchhike to practice.

“As you know, there’s still a lot of work to do,” Sullivan said. “The hype doesn’t really mean anything.”

The excitement is real in Philadelphia, growing every day in MLS and could go global when he joins English Premier League powerhouse Manchester City when he is 18.

AN EARLY START

It’s the kind of beginning Sullivan has dreamed of his entire life. All 14 years.

“I would say I realized I could be a pro when I was 10 or 11,” Sullivan says. “I think it was when I posted my first highlight video. … People said things I didn’t think I could be where I am today. It happened.”

Sullivan was younger than any player who has played in the NBA, NHL, NFL, WNBA or Major League Baseball since at least 1970, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, although 14-year-old McKenna Whitham made her NWSL debut last week with Gotham, 10 months younger than Sullivan.

The Sullivans are a soccer family. He is the second son of Penn college soccer players Brendan and Heike Sullivan. Older brother Quinn already plays for Union, and younger brothers Ronan and Declan are in the team’s pipeline. Union coach Jim Curtin played soccer at Villanova with Sullivan’s grandfather, Larry. Brendan Sullivan trained with his father at Villanova, all the family ties needed to ease the family’s comfort level with Cavan becoming a professional at such a young age.

His first memory of football, “shirtless and in diapers, kicking stuffed animals around,” was enough to send Sullivan away from his home in Norristown, Pennsylvania, for a future in Europe.

His mother recalled the overwhelming feeling when fans recognized Sullivan at Union Stadium and began asking for autographs. That was before he made history; he has since been around the area, selling fast-food chicken for a promotional campaign. He was filmed for a documentary and was mobbed on a day off with his family by autograph seekers at the beach. He threw out the first pitch at that Phillies game.

“You better throw a strike or they’re going to boo you,” manager Rob Thomson warned Sullivan in his office.

Sure enough, Sullivan disarmed a savage, loud and clear. The Philadelphia crowd had it easy.

“I aimed high,” Sullivan said. “It just kept going.”

A TEENAGE LIFE, CHANGED

More than just a professional football career has been fast-tracked for Sullivan. He should have been starting his freshman year of high school, but instead he’s heading into his junior year at YSC Academy, a football-specific high school where his father is a humanities instructor.

“I feel like if I work now, I can have fun later,” he said. “But I’m having fun. I’m working every day. That’s the beauty of it.”

So this is the part of Sullivan’s story where the mother and the father and the son and the coach say, sure, he might be a future Messi, but he’s just like any other kid his age. He sleeps late and plays games and Snapchats girls and plays video games and…no. None of that.

Sullivan’s hobby: football. His home life: football. His hobbies: football, football and football. He laughed and said no when asked if he played FIFA, at least not regularly. Sullivan still lives at home, where football reigns over a social life where his mother says, “Prodigy was not a word used in our house.”

“Do all my kids kind of miss out on some of those normal childhood things? Yes,” Heike says. “Is Cavan’s disease probably exacerbated by his situation? Absolutely. … Yes, he’s missing out on fun childhood things, and we’ve talked about that. He doesn’t seem to mind it.”

One reason, among many that include instant fame, endorsements, nearly 72,000 TikTok followers and 245,000 Instagram followers, is a reported salary of $500,000. The Union negotiated a $5 million transfer deal with Man City, winners of the Premier League titles from 2021 to 2024.

The collaborative transfer arrangement makes Sullivan’s deal unusual. It signals the Premier League club have confidence Union can develop an elite player.

Sullivan is not eligible to play for Manchester City until he is 18. But he has a German passport that could allow him to move to Europe and play for City-affiliated teams — such as Girona in Spain or Palermo in Italy — when he turns 16.

“Manchester City means nothing,” says Sullivan, “if I don’t do anything here.”

LEARNING AS THEY GO

Heike Sullivan says 99 percent of Cavan’s money is invested, with the rest in a checking account. He gets financial guidance from his mother, a top Philadelphia lawyer, and they read every detail of a contract together.

His family, the Union and Man City have lined up the tools Sullivan needs to thrive and reach the heights projected for him. But for every Harper, every LeBron James, every Sidney Crosby, there are plenty more unmissable teenage sensations who failed. Freddy Adu, a 14-year-old pro, was dubbed the next Pelé, but he flopped around without leaving much of a legacy.

“That’s an important data point to learn from,” Heike said. “But I think his situation is different. He still has to go to school, that’s something we’re managing. Recognizing that this is a whole new situation for us, I think we’re smart enough, educated enough, well-guided enough, by his agent, things like that, to keep him on the right track.”

Even with elite athletes like Harper wanting to meet him, Sullivan remained humble in his new life as a sports attraction.

“Fame doesn’t mean much to me,” he said. “It’s really about the football side of things and what you can do with the ball at your feet.”

So far, so good. Sullivan was named the most valuable player in the CONCACAF U-15 championship. He had two assists in the 4-2 win over Mexico in the final. The next chance to potentially catch him is Sunday in a Leagues Cup game, a regular-season tournament in MLS.

“Right now, we think this is the best environment for him to play, a place where he has a full support system,” said Curtin, the Union’s coach since 2014. Though he admits, “He’s going to play at the highest level this game has.”

Or take it from Harper, who needed to be introduced while he could: Philly is just the genesis of what could be a fruitful career far beyond MLS.

Cracked Harper: “Don’t forget us all when you go to Manchester City.”