How Can Cavan Sullivan Avoid Suffering the Fate of Fallen USMNT Phenom Freddy Adu?

The hype train, the incessant media attention, the blinding spotlight. The current life of Cavan Sullivan is one we’ve seen before.

The 16-year-old wonder kid has completely taken over Major League Soccer this summer, even pushing soccer legend Lionel Messi down the pecking order in terms of the league’s most eye-catching headlines. Sullivan, who has racked up five goals and four assists in the last seven consecutive matches for the Philadelphia Union, is being heralded not only as a burgeoning star of the game, but more significantly, a generational legend in the making.

That’s a lot of weight to bear for a young teenager who still lives at home with his family and gets reprimanded by his mother “if he curses too much” and is “on his phone too much.” How do you reconcile being a normal teenager with a simple love for the game when the world is watching every move you make on the pitch, and then comments on it?

It’s a level of pressure former teenage phenom Freddy Adu knew all too well, and it’s ultimately what broke him.

What Went Wrong for Freddy Adu?

freddy and cavan running — Freddy Adu (left) and Cavan Sullivan (right) made their MLS debuts at 14 years old, 20 years apart. | Joe Murphy/MLSNETImages (Adu); Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images (Sullivan)

Deemed the “new Pelé,” the spotlight on Adu was perhaps even greater than the one currently on Sullivan. When a 14-year-old Adu—known for ball control and savvy footwork not dissimilar to Sullivan’s—signed with D.C. United in 2004, he became the youngest American athlete to sign a major league contract in more than 115 years and soon became the youngest player ever to debut in the league. The latter is a record Sullivan has since broken, debuting for the Union in July 2024 at 14 years and 293 days old, just 15 days younger than Adu was a little over 20 years earlier.

MLS, in an desperate attempt to legitimize the league, pinned everything to young Adu in 2004—the league’s hopes, dreams and expectations. It was an intense treatment for a player ultimately still a child and a choice that long-time MLS commissioner Don Garber has come to deeply regret.

“I loved him. I thought we didn’t handle Freddy right,” Garber said back in April. “He was a kid, and we pushed him, and the team pushed him, and I’m not sure that was the best thing for Freddy. He wasn’t ready, the league wasn’t ready. We needed something ... I hope he’s doing O.K.”

Adu’s $500,000-a-year contract made him the highest-paid player in MLS, while he also signed a million-dollar deal with Nike and actually starred alongside Pelé in an ad for Sierra Mist. Everything about his career quickly became performative, that perhaps, in his mind, he lost all sense of the sport itself.

“Everything just kind of happened so fast,” Adu said to CBS Sports Golazo in 2023. “...All of a sudden, my name just started getting bigger and bigger. People started to recognize me, and once we went to the U-17 World Cup [in 2003], right after that, it just kind of took off. When I signed with Nike and MLS, everything just kind of blew up after that.”

adu and pele juggling the ball on set — Adu and Pelé starred in a commercial together in 2004. | Gary Bogdon/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

“I remember how cool I thought everything was,” Adu said. “Because that was the dream, right? The dream was always to become a professional soccer player. I achieved it so young. I was so happy. My family was set. It was an amazing time.”

“But I would have said [to my younger self], ‘Put all the distractions aside and focus on your craft.’”

The pressure to meet the standards of others, not only professionally but also financially, was ultimately something Adu couldn’t handle. He was not equipped with the tools he needed when thrust forcefully into the limelight. By 2007, his career began spiraling downward. He lost his love of the game. He was tossed from club to club, playing for 15 different teams—including Sullivan’s Union—before ending his career in 2021 with third-tier Swedish side Österlen FF.

MLS learned its lesson and has taken extra precautions when it comes to Sullivan over the past two years, easing him into the first team atmosphere and limiting his time in the spotlight. “I think we’re more thoughtful about how to manage a player’s career,” Garber added. “How do you get the coach, the technical director, whatever relationship you have with his manager and his family to be sure that you’re a caretaker of his future?”

Welcome to the show, Cavan Sullivan. ✨

The 14-year-old becomes the youngest player to debut in MLS history. pic.twitter.com/qbgjh4QRns
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 18, 2024

But now that Sullivan is earning more significant minutes, having become a regular starter post-World Cup, it’s as if all the barriers MLS had put up to protect him have come swiftly crashing down.

It’s a crazed fandom that has only heightened this week upon Sullivan’s selection to the U.S. men’s national team’s fall roster, where he is expected to play in some or all of the four friendlies against Peru, Chile, Canada and Mexico beginning at the end of this month. Should he make his debut, he will be the youngest debutant since—you guessed it: Adu. He also recently broke Adu’s record for most goal contributions by a player aged 16 or younger in a single season (10), notching his 11th earlier this week with a brace against San Diego FC.

The parallels between the two players’ early careers are astounding. How can Sullivan make sure they don’t end the same too?

Preserving Sullivan’s Career Isn’t All Down to Him

sullivan up close — Cavan Sullivan is having a breakout campaign this year. | Isaiah Vazquez/Leagues Cup/MLS/Getty Images

The onus should not be on Sullivan himself. It is on every staff member, coach and mentor in his orbit to check in on him and limit his over-exposure to the league.

Interim manager Ryan Richter has promoted Sullivan to a full-time starter, and the winger has proven his coach’s decision right time and time again over the past few months. It’s no longer his minutes that necessarily need to be managed in terms of preserving his longevity in the sport. Rather, it’s his time in the activities spent off the field.

It’s easy to fall into the arms of hype. It’s exciting. It makes money and it generates new fans. Nonetheless, his exposure to the media, both socials and the press, should be limited, as, perhaps, should the media he consumes regarding his play. The outside world and its limitless pressures can only encroach so far when walls are put up.

When it comes to integrating Sullivan into the USMNT—an even higher level of competition and even brighter spotlight, Pochettino plans to take precautions.

Mauricio Pochettino plans to take precaution when it comes to Sullivan’s time with the national team. | John Todd/ISI Photos/ISI Photos/Getty Images

“The most important thing is that we need to have a clear idea how to—I don’t want to use the word ‘help’—but yes, be with him and try to provide the best platform for him to evolve every day,” Pochettino said after Thursday’s roster announcement. “We need to be the people that go there and push to evolve [but] sometimes put the limits.”

It will be a delicate balance of not overwhelming Sullivan, yet ensuring that he is “encouraged to keep going, doing what he’s doing.”

“We need to make him keep believing [in what] he’s doing, but also trying to show that he’s about to really work hard and evolve because it’s all about growth,” Pochettino added.

Sullivan has boundless potential. It will be up to the people around him to help him see it through.

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