Photo: Marjorie Elzey

Keystone Sports added two new teenage center backs to its cohort of signed professional soccer players last Tuesday afternoon and then again Thursday morning.

Olwethu Makhanya

The South African center back signed with the Union and is brand new to the United States, greater Philadelphia, and the Union organization. He is 19.2 years old from Durban, Kwazulu Natal and previously played for Stellenbosch FC of the Cape Winelands region. Stellenbosch is one of 16 teams in the Republic of South Africa’s top soccer league.

Makhanya began last season (2022-23) with Stellenbosch’s reserve side but earned 24 games with their first team and became the youngest goal scorer in the club’s brief seven-year history. He played 20 matches in the DStv Premiership’s 30-game season for 1,734 total minutes. And he played four matches for 390 minutes (one match went 30 minutes of extra time) in the NedBank Cup — South Africa’s equivalent to the U. S. Open Cup, in which Stellenbosch went out in the semifinals.

His last known match was that May 23 semifinal, so his conditioning should be only at preseason levels, suggesting he may initially remediate it with Union II once his transfer paperwork clears and he arrives.

Makhanya is Stellenbosch’s first-ever sale to the United States. Transfermarkt values him at slightly above $500,000. His salary likely being commensurate with that value helps to explain why he has become the Union’s first-ever U22 Initiative signing.

As a U22 initiative player, 20 years old or younger, he counts for only $150,000 against the salary cap regardless of his actual pay. The rules summary available to the general public says nothing about prorating that charge for midseason acquisitions. His actual annualized salary cannot exceed $653,125 — the MLS maximum salary budget charge for 2023 — thus he cannot be paid like a designated player. We will learn his actual salary when the Players Association releases its fall 2023 salary guide.

Ernst Tanner’s comments describe his playing style as aggressive. He stands 6’1” and weighs 176 pounds so he has the basic physique to stand up to the rigors of MLS. The flawless articulate English of his social media farewell to Stellenbosch and its fans suggest language should not hinder him from discovering the Union’s way of playing.

His contract is guaranteed through 2025, with club options available for 2026 and 2027. While he is included in the Union’s Leagues Cup roster, we assume he cannot play until his international transfer certificate and his P1 visa have been received and he has arrived here.

Neil Pierre

Nelson’s 15.8-year-old younger brother has been on the radar of the Union organization for several years — having come up through the Union’s Academy. He closed his amateur career at the MLS NEXT all-star game last week and was announced as a professional the following morning.

Pierre becomes the second-youngest professional signing by the organization, surpassing Zach Pfieffer, who was 16.0 when he was signed in 2010. The youngest signing in the organization remains Selmir Miscic, who was two months younger when he signed.

He has been called into the USYNT U15s and U16s and helped the Academy U15s win the GA Cup earlier this season. He is right-footed, stands 6’5”, and weighs 176 pounds. His stature is similar to Jack Elliott’s who is listed as 6’6” and 183.

How his jersey name will be differentiated from his brother’s is a curiosity. The first two letters of the brothers’ personal names are identical, and the third ones are quite similar, “l” and “I”. There is the possibility for full personal names as well as surnames. Both shirts have broad shoulders.

Pierre traveled with the Union II squad to Columbus and played roughly seven minutes at center back at the end of the match. He found out that slide tackling a 20-something center forward about to deke him to shoot takes more force than it does to stop a fellow fifteen-year-old.

Central channel defense as a whole

Analyzing recent Philadelphia Union contract extensions, the club has locked up the central channel of its defense for 2024 and can easily do so for 2025. Andre Blake, Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, and José Martinez are all coming back next year on guaranteed contracts, and the club can repeat that for 2025 if it chooses to exercise Blake’s and Elliott’s options.

The futures of the current outside backs are less clear. Kai Wagner becomes a free agent this December after the MLS Cup, and Olivier Mbaizo has requested a trade to join his family since they have repeatedly been denied visas to join him stateside.

The following four charts display guaranteed and optional first-team defense contracts through 2027. At this writing, no one has received any options or guarantees for 2028.

Age data was determined Friday, July 21, and is rounded up or down to the nearest tenth of a year. Each vertical column in the charts aligns to cover the same position in a 4-4-2 narrow diamond. Strikethrough indicates that we do not expect the player to remain in the organization beyond this season. Parentheses indicate the player is likely not a candidate for the first team.

DEFENSIVE STARTERS

FIRST-CHOICE DEFENSIVE RESERVES

DEEP FIRST TEAM DEFENSIVE RESERVES

STARTING SECOND TEAM DEFENDERS, BOTH PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR

(No second-team contract information beyond 2023 has been announced except for Kyle Tucker having an option for 2024.)

The second teamers

Juan Castillo and Hugo Le Guennec are not serious candidates for promotion to the first team because of their age. Castillo’s seizure of left back suggests Anton Sorenson’s time with the organization will likely end this coming offseason, hence the strike-through above.

Perhaps the amateurs Daniel Kreuger and Francis Westfield still are candidates for promotion.

The clear name to watch is Carlos Rojas, who is on loan but his acquisition announcement stated there was a purchase option. He came from the Venezuelan first-division side Deportivo La Guaira. They have several players listed as defensive midfielders on Transfermarkt.

We don’t know the terms of Rojas’s purchase option and we can’t tell whether La Guaira wants him back. He has played well enough with Union II that they might. If, however, acquiring him permanently is a realistic possibility, the effectiveness of his play suggests Philadelphia might consider it.

Rojas has already seen more minutes as a single six this season than coach Marlon LeBlanc’s team displayed all of last year. Four of Rojas’s five matches starting as a single six have been wins. The fifth was a draw. He does not yet have the stamina to play there for 90 minutes, so LeBlanc has sent fresh legs to play beside him — changing shapes to do so after an hour or an hour-and-a-quarter.

The young Venezuelan is a left-footer, and in one segment of a practice observed when he was still on trial, he played briefly as a left back.

Rojas is the likeliest candidate to play as a single defensive midfielder for Union II since James Chambers hung up his boots. He has not shown Chambers’ offensive distribution or leadership but his recovery speed is superior and his instincts to cover his center backs are stronger. Plenty of time remains to find out how Rojas may develop further.

Perhaps others?

We can’t tell whether the blank space in the right back column under Nathan Harriel means Westfield is a serious candidate to be his backup once Olivier Mbaizo leaves, or whether that need will be filled by acquiring a player outside the organization.

Westfield is an excellent right back for MLS NEXT Pro’s level. His quality of play allows the team to risk using the single six shape — when he is not available they do not use it.

Whether he checks Ernst Tanner’s qualifying data sets for play in MLS itself we cannot foresee. He was not named to the first team’s 30-player Leagues Cup roster while others in his age group were. That might indicate he doesn’t make the grade, but it also might indicate that Mbaizo is not expected to leave before the tournament is over.

Another defensive uncertainty for the future is Damion Lowe.

The Jamaican international center back is playing under the 2022 contract he signed with Inter Miami CF. There has been no Union mention of a new deal. Of the Union’s top 2023 center backs, he is the oldest. His next contract will almost certainly be his last chance to negotiate a substantial windfall before turning toward what comes after playing soccer.

Lowe is a proven MLS-caliber starter — any team needing defensive help could easily target him. His current salary does not exclude him as a candidate for any of the MLS sides in need of immediate defensive help. He may want to leave for a starting chance once the Union no longer controls him.

Developing teenage center backs is prudent behavior by the Union. Brandan Craig — loaned for the rest of the season to Austin FC — and Makhanya are of an age with each other and nearly a full decade younger than Lowe, Glesnes, and Elliott. Pierre is three years younger and more raw. Jim Curtin is cautious before he “gives the keys” to youngsters along his back line (see Auston Trusty’s data from back when he was coming up). Developing the next generation already is a wise idea.