Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications

No further reinforcements

First, they will not be bringing in any additional plug-and-play veterans during this transfer window. Ian Glavinovich has already replaced Jack Elliott, and with the FIFA registration ban now lifted, his paperwork should be processed without any issues, making him ready to play. No further outsiders will be introduced.

Now that all forms of General Allocation Money (GAM) no longer expire—except for the annual allocation earned through the 2:4:2 “special player pathway” choice—it’s time to accumulate a war chest for future needs when acquiring players from outside may prove necessary.

Given the philosophical primacy the Union places on development from within, what we observed in Spain will likely continue until late July. This season’s new players are primarily drawn from last year’s Union II team, and there is a significant influx. The average age of the 30 players who returned from Spain is just 23.8 years, with 14 still under 22.

2025 changes – defense

The most significant 2025 change will be in the defense. If it proves itself, it will become a foundation of Tanner 2.0.

Almost half of the nine who will be 2025’s defensive candidates for gamedays were either unused or unavailable last year. Two are brand-new, Ian Glavinovich and Neil Pierre, actually three if you count Isaiah LeFlore, who was injured for all of 2024 after the second day of preseason. A fourth, Olwethu Makhanaya, never saw a first-team game pitch once official competitions had begun. (Ages as of Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Typos are deliberate for layout purposes)

The Glavinovich-Makhanya choice is the least clear right now. Against a side with true speed merchants up top, they could start together with Glesnes on the bench as they did against Slavia Prague.

2025 changes – strikers

The next most significant change will be among the strikers, and the best way to illustrate that is to rank the six by age from oldest to youngest.

If the total professional pool is considered, including one 2024 draft pick now trialing with Union II (note exponent) and one academy player who remains in negotiation to turn pro (note exponent), five more will join the six above.

Eight of 11 strikers are 21.3 years old or under. No new strikers will be coming from outside until these eight have been evaluated conclusively that their ceilings will not rise to elite MLS levels.

2025 changes – midfield

The fewest brand-new changes for 2025 will be in the midfield because all the unfamiliar faces and names had been signed to the first team by the end of last season.

By age, Danley Jean Jacques is the outlier among the midfield newcomers. He is also the outlier by level of previous professional experience. He comes from a team relegated from France’s Ligue Un last season. The 24.7-year-old Haitian international comes the closest to replacing Jose Martinez, as his $550,000 annualized base salary and unknown but TAM-necessitating transfer fee both suggest.

Jean Jacques’ poor English meant last fall’s instruction in playing Martinez’s single six position according to Union cues did not progress as far as it otherwise might have. He has been on the field almost always at the same time as Alejandro Bedoya, who played in Ligue Un with Nantes for three years before coming to the Union and has some French. Jean Jacques always paired in a double pivot with Bedoya in the two Spanish friendlies. We assume the pairing had and has an instructional dimension.

Among the 14 youngsters under 22, Nick Pariano is the oldest at 21.9 years old. Last season, he was on a season-long loan to Union II, where he had a standout performance as a single six defensive midfielder during the last twelve games. While in Spain, he also gained experience playing right back, which we interpret as an opportunity for growth and a suggestion that using a double pivot might be the best way to enhance Jack McGlynn’s offensive skills while compensating for his average defensive pace. When Jean Jacques is away on international duty with Haiti for the Gold Cup, only Pariano and Jesus Bueno will have experience playing as single sixes. We expect Pariano to continue developing in that role, adding to his versatility as a utility player.

CJ Olney is 18.1, a left-footer, and had 18 of 2024’s regular season game minutes at left channel mid. He got 45 midfield minutes in Spain, but in the right channel. We assume Coach Carnell was doing two things. He was broadening Olney’s horizons. And he was reinforcing a position where he may need depth, as 2025’s steadily increasing speed of play will leave Bedoya behind, and David Vazquez will be variously away with the USYNT U20s preparing for and attending the FIFA U20 World Cup in September in Chile.

David Vazquez is 18.9, is the left footer who won the Golden Boot at last year’s Concacaf U20 championships, and was Cavan Sullivan’s predecessor and subsequent backup at attacking mid for Union II last season. He is a left-footer who has always played on the right side or in the center with Union II during the previous two seasons. He has always started when available for the last two years.

Of Olney, Sullivan, and Vazquez, Vazquez is the most overt ball-winner on defense. He is beyond fearless; if a 20:80 ball needs winning, send Vazquez. He is also physically the slightest of the three. Unsurprisingly, therefore, he is often hampered by minor injuries.

His Spanish minutes numbered only 15, and they came as striker, a position for which he has been a fixture for the aforementioned US U20s. Preparative camps and tune-up matches are not yet publicly known, but Vazquez will miss time with his club because of them.

Cavan Sullivan is 15.3, a left-footer, and has 10 of 2024’s MLS minutes in three appearances with two shots on goal, both of which were on target. In Spain, he played the second half against Slavia Prague as an attacking midfielder, which is part of Carnell’s interchanging philosophy. And he started against AGF, we think, as the left-channel midfielder playing the first half. Because we did not see the match, we cannot judge how he held up against the fresh Danish starters. He had done acceptably well against the second-half Czechs.

Starting him on the flank rather than in the middle may be a way to get him onto the pitch earlier in his career. It also puts him on the pitch beside Daniel Gazdag. The question will be whether his defending is acceptable for MLS.

We should mention that with Union II in the second half of last season, Sullivan, Vazquez, and Olney played together using a high degree of positional interchange. We are not tactically sophisticated enough to discern whether Marlon LeBlanc’s principles of play were precisely the same as coach Carnell’s. Carnell’s are furious in the rapidity of their shifting interchanges, but visually, play was recognizably similar. A clear difference was that the single six behind the 2024 Union II trio did not advance as far forward into the attack as consistently as did Bueno in the first half against the Czechs.