Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications

We discuss only the two — yes, two — seasons to be played next “year,” that is, in all of calendar 2027 and the first half of 2028.  “Year” in quotation marks refers to the previously announced calendar transition’s 18 months.

As readers think about the various roster processes we attempt to clarify below, please remember two things. 

1. As part of Major League Soccer’s pending announced shift of its calendar, there is to be a mid-winter break of — we are guessing — nine or ten week from mid-December 2027 through all of January, and into mid-February 2028 . Roster moves would continue to occur during those nine or ten weeks almost certainly.
2. In the past Philadelphia’s club-held options have often specified future salaries. Sometimes those salaries have been high. But a high salary specified in an option may cause the option to be declined. There is a mechanism called a “qualifying offer” that allows the club to retain a right of first refusal in such cases if they want the player to return but for less salary than specified by the option. Remember Ilsinho.
3. Many current Union contracts — the older ones — were signed and publicly announced on the basis of January-to-December calendar years. Those signed more recently are on the basis of July-to-June calendar years.

We organize our analysis of next “year’s” roster decisions around positional groupings and present our ideas in two parts. We add four “loan-aways” and two “uncertainties” to total all 31 players currently known to be on Union contracts.

In the first half of the analysis we provide only what we believe to be are the known facts about each player’s contract situation. Following those facts, we then speculate about what might happen. To close, we append a depth chart based on our guesswork.

C O N T R A C T     F A C T S

Goalkeepers:

• Only Andrew Rick is on a guaranteed contract beyond December 31st, 2026 (the end of the season currently being played).
• The club holds options on Andre Blake that would cover 2027’s 14-game sprint season, 2027-28’s 34-game regular season, and the first half of 2028-29’s regular season, i. e., the rest of calendar 2028 (exact number of games uncertain). 
• The club holds two separate options on George Marks that together would cover both the sprint season and 2027-28’s regular season.
• We do not know any future details —if there are any — of Union II goalkeeper Pierce Holbrook’s Union II contract beyond the end of 2026. 

Outside Backs

• Kai Wagner is guaranteed for both the 2027 sprint season and the subsequent 2027-28 regular season.
• Frank Westfield is similarly guaranteed.
• Club behavior indicates that Nathan Harriel would be the primary back up to Wagner on the left, and he recently reproved that he could easily replace Westfield on the right. His factual contract information lies immediately below under “center backs.”
• Were Ben Bender to return (see attacking midfielders below for his contract facts) he has served as an emergency left back and and now most recently as an emergency right back as well.
• WE discuss left back Philippe Ndinga far below under “Uncertainties.”

Center backs 

• Nathan Harriel is guaranteed for both the 2027 sprint season and the 2027-28 regular season. When paired with Neil Pierre, he plays on the left. When paired with Japhet “Jeff” Sery he has played on both sides but most recently also on the left. 
• Like Harriel Neil Pierre is also guaranteed for both of 2027’s seasons. How long he will remain with Philadelphia before he is sold onward is unknown. 
• Japhet Sery is the third center back to be guaranteed for both seasons next “year.” Coach Richter again called him “Jeff” in his most recent press conference.
• Geiner Martinez is the fourth center back.
• Finn Sundstrom is the fifth.
• Should Mark McKenzie arrive next January as is reliably but unofficially reported, center back would become crowded unless McKenzie replaces a departed Pierre. (He is reliably reported to have been the pregame drum striker before the recent Orlando match, and to have commented “See you guys next year,” when leaving the locker room afterwards according to reporter Joe Tansey.)

Defensive midfielders

• Danley Jean Jacques has club-held options that cover both the 2027 sprint season and the 2027-28  regular season.
• Jovan Lukic has just signed a new contract that guarantees both those seasons.
• Jesus Bueno has one club-held option that, were it exercised, would expire in December of 2027 during the brand new, previously discussed winter break of 2027-28.
• Jeremy Rafanello has club-held options that would cover the 2027 sprint season, the 2027-28 regular season, and the first segment of 2028-29, i. e., all of calendar 2028. 

Attacking midfielders 

• Cavan Sullivan is guaranteed for both seasons of 2027. (Nothing official is known about Manchester City’s rights to set aside those guarantees. Nor is anything known about any impacts of their recent convictions for financial improprieties because as of September 26th the penalties thereunto had not yet been announced.)
• Like Cavan Sullivan Indiana Vassilev is also guaranteed for both seasons of 2027.
• Quinn Sullivan is guaranteed for the 2027 sprint season and the July-to-December half of 2027-28. The club holds an option on him for February-to-June of calendar 2028, ie., the rest of 2027-28 .
• Ben Bender is guaranteed for the 2027 sprint season. The club holds an option on him for the 2027-28 regular season.
• Alejandro Bedoya’s is the simplest attacking mid situation. He is out of contract and a free agent on December 31st, 2026.

Strikers

• MIlan Iloski is guaranteed for both the 2027 seasons detailed above.
• Bruno Damiani is the same.
•  So is Ezekiel Alladoh.
• So is Augustin Anello.
• So is Malik Jakupovic. There has been an unofficial report by reporter Jose R. Nunez that during the last transfer window Philadelphia turned down an offer from Borussia Dortmund to buy Jakupovic’s contract.

Loan-aways

•  Attacking midfielder C. J. Olney holds a guaranteed Union contract that covers both 2027 seasons after his 2026 loan to Brooklyn FC expires at the end of the USL Championship 2026 season.
• Striker Eddy Davis holds a guaranteed Union contract for the sprint season, a guarantee for the first half of the 2027-28 regular season, and an option for the second half of that season when his loan to Loudoun United finishes this December. 
• Striker Stas Korzeniowski has a club-held option for both the sprint season and the 2027-28 regular season when his loan to USL-C’s Rhode Island FC expires at the end of 2026 season.
• Striker/winger Markus Anderson has a club-held option for both the sprint season and the 2027-28 regular season when his loan to Lyngby Boldklub of the Danish Superliga expires December 31st, 2026.  

Uncertainties

Both Sal Olivas and Philippe Ndinga’s futures with Philadelphia seem unlikely to continue but are officially unknown. Olivas is no longer being allowed to block game minutes for rising academy strikers. And the only known concrete fact about Ndinga’s status or his location is that he has been called up by the Gabon national team for the September-October FIFA international break.

S P E C U L A T I V E      D I S C U S S I O N

Big picture

Were the club to choose to bring everyone back, it could do so on calculable, known terms for everyone save Alejandro Bedoya.

The defense and the strikers seem as close to set as anything ever is in soccer. Their only obvious variables are whether Neil Pierre and Malik Jakupovic will be sold onward this coming off season. Should they be sold, candidates for their replacement exist between the McKenzie rumor (see immediately below) and the strikers away on loan.

There are rumors from unofficial but highly reliable sources that Mark McKenzie will come back to Philadelphia in January as a Designated Player. The $4.6 million in GAM given in the recently published fall roster reviews lends credibility to a McKenzie reacquisition. Roughly and unofficially, $4 million is what they paid to reacquire Wagner. But judging McKenzie to be a replacement for a sold-on Neil Pierre exemplifies the so-called “post-hoc” fallacy, to wit, “after this, therefore because of this.” 

Even less reliably, there are rumors of changes to roster rules that cannot be officially announced because the league has not yet voted them into existence. We believe it is safe to assume that Jon Scheer and his staff would know the proposals, would be monitoring their likelihood, and would be planning accordingly but privately. 

Goalkeepers

We assume Andre Blake’s options will be exercised since he is playing well, seems healthy, and appears to be settled into his family’s life in greater Philadelphia. He became a U. S. citizen on July 24, 2023.

To our eyes number three goalkeeper George Marks still seems slightly better than number four Pierce Holbrook when executing remarkable, exceptional, spectacular saves. But he is three-and-a-half years older and has probably reached his ceiling. He will not displace Rick let alone Blake. And his return would block Holbrook and the other academy amateurs below him. Also, he himself may want to find a new situation where he will be more likely to play. He is a candidate to depart.

Defenders

Aside from one question, the defense seems set for “next year.”

• When, to where, and for how much will Neil Pierre be sold, especially when.

Otherwise at this writing “next year’s” defense is known unless persons unknown are unhappy in Philadelphia and are asking to leave. 

Defensive midfielders

Jovan Lukić signed a new contract to return to Philadelphia this past September 17th. It is guaranteed through the 2028-29 season and has club options for the following two seasons. He will start in the defensive midfield.

That Danley Jean Jacques has survived the start of Europe’s new seasons without generating known outside interest suggests he can be expected to return for 2027 on his exercised club option. He previously experienced France’s highest division before he came to Philadelphia. Life in the United States may be more attractive to him than a return to Europe, especially if a generous payday were privately known to be looming under the previously mentioned, unknown-but-rumored, revised roster rules.

Since no immediately ready, first-team defensive midfield candidates are pushing up from the lower ranks, the other two defensive midfield options for “next year” also seem very likely to be exercised. Should there be — touch wood — an immediate disaster at the position, the most likely in-house emergency replacement would be a Finn Sundstrom position switch with considerable emergency retraining.

Attacking midfielders

Based on Cavan Sullivan’s performance before May’s World Cup break, there seemed little chance of Manchester City moving him away from Philadelphia before his 18th birthday. (He turned 17 this past Monday on September 28th).  He was progressing. But he was not consistently starting. And he was not dominating when he did so. 

Since the world cup break, that has changed. He now starts and consistently impacts games. But there is still a caveat. 

The caveat is that Cavan Sullivan’s new emergence has occurred primarily against the weaker teams in MLS’s eastern conference. Only four of the Union’s last twelve league opponents were in position to qualify for the playoffs when the matches were played. It may still be too soon for Manchester City to change its assumed intention to leave him in Philadelphia. 

But should his present run of form continue through to the end of the Union’s season and into the playoffs, Manchester City’s mind could easily change.  It especially might change if he maintains his impressive performances from Wednesday, October 14th through and including Wednesday October 28th. In those 15 days the Union will play four of the current top five teams in the eastern conference during two two-game weeks.

Sullivan has already set a league record for “goal contributions” by a 16-year-old eclipsing Freddy Adu. He can now be called an impact starter. If by the end of the season he maintains those qualities against MLS playoff teams, the argument that he has grown beyond Major League soccer’s ability to develop him would increase its credibility.

Were that situation to occur, Manchester City’s judgement of Major League Soccer’s developmental potential — as compared to those of City Group’s other European clubs — becomes crucial. In planning for next year Jon Scheer’s Philadelphia must prepare for both Cavan Sullivan’s presence and his absence. And keep an ear to the ground for the penalties yet to be announced against Manchester City for their various past financial transgressions.

Turning to the other attacking mids, we think Indiana Vassilev is an essential component of the Union’s planning for its Cavan Sullivan uncertainty. We suspect those uncertainty contingencies may have motivated Vassilev’s early, lengthy contract extension last November 25th, 2025.

Because Quinn Sullivan is still recovering from surgery and re-proving his previously high levels of play, we do not expect any changes in his contract situation in the immediate future.  That inaction may change in future once he has proven himself all the way back.

Interim head coach Ryan Richter has not played Ben Bender as much as his predecessor did. But attacking mid Bender is both a left-foot and an emergency fill-in at both outside backs. Both characteristics enhance his value. Richter comment after the Orlando game in which Bender played 90 minutes before giving way to Jordan Griffin’s MLS debut during stoppage time, that as far as he knew Bender had never before played right back. The man is becoming Rafanello-like in his positional versatility. 

But also like Rafanello Bender’s age approaches an athlete’s peak years. That is a negative characteristic for an overtly player development organization. We cannot tell whether Scheer and the technical staff judge right-footed, 18 1/2-year-old Kellan LeBlanc ready and able to fill Bender’s role. (LeBlanc is the Union II attacking mid closest to promotion in our judgment.) We don’t think so, but do not have any idea of the analytical tools Director Scheer and his people are using to make their decisions.

Thirty-nine year-old Alejandro Bedoya is now primarily a late game substitute. But coach Richter still uses him frequently. The captain emeritus is a sufficient club legend that we suspect if he wants to play the sprint season, the club will not dismiss his wish without careful analysis. 

We do not know what role Bedoya plays in front office operations. We only know that a year after Ernst Tanner allegedly had made it clear he did not think Bedoya should come back, Tanner acquiesced easily and quickly to a second return citing his front office contributions. Ernst Tanner does not seem sentimental about soccer players, so Bedoya must have been making a real contribution to front office operations whatever that contribution may have been.

When he retires whenever than may be, we believe Bedoya should join Sebastian LeToux in Philadelphia’s Ring of Honor.   

Strikers

Since all five of Milan Iloski, Bruno Damiani, Ezekiel Alladoh, Agustin Anello, and Malik Jakupovic are on guaranteed contracts for 2027, only two potential striker issues exist.

• Is anyone sufficiently unhappy in Philadelphia to want to leave?
• And, is someone going to be bought by a covetous third party through an offer that cannot be refused, unlike Dortmund’s earlier alleged one for Jakupovic?

Otherwise striker may be “set” for next “year.”

Loanaways

Coach Richter coached all four loanaways directly in 2025, and in two cases during the first half of 2026 when all were part of his Union II side.  He knows them. Three play a position that is already overcrowded barring a sale, namely striker. The fourth loanaway is an attacking mid, a position where we think there might be a greater chance of a 2027 vacancy (Bedoya and Cavan Sullivan).

On the basis of current evidence we expect three of the four loanaways’s would return to Philadelphia for the January 2027’s preseason. Decisions about their futures would then flow from their performances and other roster developments.

Whether Richter  and Sporting Director Jon Scheer value attacking midfielder C. J. Olney more than Bradley Carnell and Tanner seemed to do is unknown. There is no question that Olney is physically slight. But if they value him and Bedoya retires or Sullivan joins Manchester City, Olney is the obvious in-house candidate to join the attacking midfielders He is 20 years younger than the captain emeritus and has been playing in Philadelphia’s system since joining their academy in August of 2021.

Olney has had a strong season during his loan to Brooklyn FC under his former Union II coach Marlon LeBlanc.  At last check —before Saturday’s matches — he led Brooklyn in appearances (25), starts (23), assists (7), and minutes played (2,076). He was second in shots, and shots on target. He was tied for third in goals with three.

Markus Anderson lacks Olney’s advantage of playing a Philadelphia position that is probably becoming thinner over the off-season. Anderson is first and foremost a winger, and the Union’s attack for 2027 is already heavily populated with outright strikers. We suspect the Union are trying to find him a compatible landing place with a different organization.

Anderson did well with Brooklyn leading the expansion side in goals (6) before he left for Lyngby Boldklub (where Neil Pierre had been for the first five or so months of 2026).  Anderson made his first Danish appearance Sunday, September 13th coming on as a midfield substitute in the 62nd minute against Sonderjyske in a 1-1 draw, as he did in the 77th minute Friday, September 18th in their 4-0 loss to Silkeborg.

But Anderson seems most naturally to be a winger, a position Philadelphia’s system does not employ. (Long-time Union followers will remember Ilsinho and Fafa Picault both of whom were hexagons trying to fit into octagonal Union holes.) We hope for Anderson’s sake some other club values his virtues the way Houston did with Jack McGlynn and wants Anderson to join them.

Like Anderson, outright striker Stas Korzeniowski plays a position that is well populated on the Philadelphia depth chart. He has clearly outgrown MLS NEXT Pro, but needs an intermediate step as stimulus to grow toward MLS itself. We suspect that if his strong start for Rhode Island FC of the second division’s USL Championship continues to go well, he will return to the Union for preseason in January of 2027 and that his future might be determined by his results during it. However, we much doubt that the Union will allow him to block Malik Jakupovic if Jakupovic remains in Philadelphia.

Before play last Saturday, Korzeniowski had appeared for Rhode Island four times, started thrice, scored two goals, and played 302 minutes total. He played the full 90 in all three of his Rhode Island starts. His comparative weakness is unremarkable foot speed. The question for his Rhode Island sojourn is whether he can learn to be an effective goal scorer at their level within the limits his foot speed imposes. If he does, he may grow into a chance to try to prove the same in MLS. 

But Korzeniowskki is six-and-a-half years older than Jakupovic. A Jakupovic departure would enhance his chances of play with the Union next year.

Striker Eddy Davis also plays the position that would seem to be well populated on 2027’s Philadelphia Union depth chart. He has an physical asset that cannot be coached, namely speed of foot. He has already become second on Loudoun United in scoring for the season with six goals in his eight appearances all of which he has started. Six hundred seventy-six minutes in eight games — roughly 85 minutes per game — says his endurance is more than adequate for USL Championship play. 

Jakupovic, Korzeniowski, and Davis are competing for the fifth first-team striker spot. Unless Jakupovic leaves, he is the current front runner to win because of the potential height of his future ceiling. Each of the three has different strengths, and on a development club Jakupovic’s youth gives him a significant advantage. Allegedly at least one European giant has expressed interest in acquiring him, probably with a “low-balled”  initial offer because Philadelphia allegedly refused it. 

The other two, Korzeniowski and Davis, offer different strengths — size and power against quickness and foot speed. Were either player to attract serious offers from other clubs that matched Philadelphia’s own internal valuations, we suspect Sporting Director Scheer would sell.

European interest in Jakupovic seems to be the key to the loanaway strikers. Future Union opportunity for the other two probably depends on his departure.

Uncertainties

Sal Olivas is either being rigidly disciplined for the balance of Philadelphia’s 2026 season, or he is on his way out the door. When he received his second yellow card on the 13th of May against New England II, he swatted the card out of the referee’s hand as he went by when leaving the field. Thus he set himself up to become an example to others of what not to do in their futures. He has always dressed for subsequent Union II games. But by the end of Union II’s season he was no longer being allowed to block developmental minutes for academy amateur strikers Theo Reed and John Ruf.

Philippe Ndinga was rendered redundant to Philadelphia’s needs when Director Scheer re-signed Kai Wagner. Now Scheer’s challenge is to find Ndinga a landing place that will allow the club to recoup the money it spent to buy his contract. As of the end of September Ndinga’s physical location and the club which he is training both remain uncertain. 

For the September-October FIFA international window Ndinga received his first call-up to the Gabon national team for their African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Morocco and Niger. The Wikipedia listing of Gabon’s roster for those games says Ndinga remains a Philadelphia Union player. And Ndinga himself posted pictures wearing Philadelphia Union practice gear at roughly the same time that the call up news broke. Philadelphia itself announced the call up on September 21st, suggesting he is still officially rostered to them. 

But efficient use of resources combined with Ryan Richter’s use of his roster suggests that Ndinga will be moving on from Philadelphia.

Appendix: A guess at a 2027 depth chart

Using our guesswork above, here is a depth chart for the 2027 sprint season. It totals 5 strikers, 6 attacking mids, 4 defensive mids, 1 left back, 4 center backs, 1 right back, and 3 goalkeepers. Asterisked players are on 2026 Union II contracts. At the end we include the sporting director, the technical director and the first team’s coaches.

	Striker		Striker
	Iloski		Damiani
	Anello		Alladoh
	Only one the following three strikers will remain
	Jakupovic ?	Davis?	Korzeniowski ?
Attacking Mid				Attacking Mid
Q Sullivan				C Sullivan ?
Bender				Vassilev
Olney				*LeBlanc ?
	Defensive Mid		Defensive Mid
	Jean Jacques		Lukic
	Bueno		Rafanello
Left Back	Left Center Back		Right Center Back	Right Back
Wagner	Sery		Harriel	Westfield
	Sundstrom		Martinez
		Goalkeeper
		Blake
		Rick
		*Holbrook
Sporting  Director	Technical  Director	Head  Coach	Director of Goalkeeping	Assistant  Coaches
Scheer	Gimenez	Richter	Wheddon	Leicht
				da Silva
				Apaloo
				Moane