At 17, Cavan Sullivan Is the Youngest MLS Player of the Month Ever

Cavan Sullivan's September went like this: MLS games, a first start for the U.S. national team, a 17th birthday, and on Wednesday, an award no one his age had ever won.

The Philadelphia Union midfielder was named MLS Player of the Month for September, the youngest player in league history to earn it.

One short of the record

Sullivan has seven goals and 12 assists in 26 league games, 1,675 minutes in all. Those 19 goal contributions are tied with Alphonso Davies in 2018 for the second-most by a teenager in an MLS season. Only Diego Fagundez, with 20 in 2013, had more.

With games still left in the season, he has a real chance to pass Fagundez.

His team has taken off with him. Since the World Cup break, Philadelphia has gone 12 games unbeaten and collected 32 points, tied for the most any MLS club has gotten in a 12-game stretch. Sullivan started 11 of those games and had a goal or assist in eight. The Union are up to sixth in the East.

A national team debut, too

On Saturday, Mauricio Pochettino started him in a 4-1 friendly win over Peru. At 16 he became the youngest player to start for the U.S. since Freddy Adu in 2006, one of 11 players, eight of them teenagers, to make a first appearance that night. He turned 17 on Sept. 28 and came off the bench Tuesday in a 4-2 win over Chile.

Sullivan and the Union are back on Oct. 10, hosting Real Salt Lake at Subaru Park at 7:30 p.m. ET. You can watch it live on TVRivo.