'We're right more than we're wrong' - How MLS academies are developing the next generation of American soccer talent

The first thing that needs acknowledging is that for a long time, MLS academies weren't particularly well developed. The college system was once the best way for talent to move into the top levels of the game in the U.S. - especially for American-born players.

The MLS draft worked. Theoretically, you could hold onto a player for a few years, trust that he would perform in college, and either let him go from there or sign him on a homegrown deal. And for a while, that was a productive approach. The college draft produced a bulk of the league. Meanwhile, homegrown signings such as Jordan Morris, DeAndre Yedlin and Gyasi Zardes were valuable.

Not until the early 2010s did it become clear that talent could be ushered out of the academy and into the first team. Names such as Tyler Adams, Brendan Aaronson, and Alphonso Davies were all pushed through their respective youth systems, into the first team - and eventually shipped off to Europe.

The New York Red Bulls, historically, were the first side associated with it all. Thanks to their five-club global model, they had a real advantage of their side. They could look to Europe for best practices and make use of the technologies and methods used abroad. Their sister club, RB Salzburg, were perhaps the ones who did it the best - developing global stars such as Erling Haaland and Sadio Mane.

"We have the support of the overarching Red Bull brand," said Tiger Fitzpatrick, New York Red Bulls head of pro player pathways said. "It's a fantastic environment to work in, because they know what success looks like through an academy system, just based primarily on Salzburg."

They went into near-unbelievable depth to track development, combining cognitive and on-field development to fine tune their academy. One such technique is using robotics to fling balls at players, and grading them based on which part of their body they trap it with.

"There's different tests and different things," Fitzpatrick said. "There are color tests that they do, how you see things, and so then all that goes into whatever that big system is that they process information, and then they put it out to us."

Since then, though, others have caught up. From the original MLS franchises making an impact with homegrown signings, to newer sides making use of talent-rich areas, there is a real movement of young prospects into first teams.

"Everything's getting younger," Scheer said, "and now we're at a stage with our roster for the first team, but even with our academy in general, where we feel like we have a lot of talent right now."

Watch any interview with a head coach or manager discussing a youth product, and he will likely talk about personal qualities. This prospect is a "smart young man." He might be "wise beyond his years." Or he might make the manager "think about what I was like at his age."

Cavan Sullivan - yes, we know, still just 15 - is perhaps the poster child of this all. He carries himself like a pro despite being half the age of some of his teammates.

But that doesn't happen by accident. Philadelphia's YSC school was founded in 2013 by Richie Graham. The elite soccer school connected with the local community, rounds the football and academic education under one roof. Classes are specialized so that students can go to morning practice, undergo their studies in an academic environment throughout the day, and then train again after the final bell.

Looping it in to one system is immensely helpful in a professional's development, Principal Dr. Nooha Ahmed-Lee claimed.

"Soccer is no longer a physical game - it's a cognitive game," she said. "There are tighter spaces and you have to make good decisions. So you're training the brain at the same time for school that you are for an athlete on the field."

The crossover has helped students complete their studies at a high rate, and also prepare for college if a professional pathway doesn't work out. The flexibility, in particular, is key. Teachers at the school demand the usual dedication to studies, but coordinate closesly with the youth academy. In theory, it brings about a healthy mixture of personal academic responsibility and time to develop into a professional footballer.

"It really affects the individual, in the sense that if you are trying to do something incredible, like you want to be a professional player, you can't do it alone. You need the ecosystem to help," Ahmed-Lee said.

The system has become so valuable that YSC sold an online version of their schooling to other MLS clubs. Top players, at a discounted rate, are able to utilize the same technology to allow for flexibilty in their daily life. From the outside, it seems like surrendering a leg up. But Ahmed-Lee insisted that it helps keep a core principle - raising the standard of American soccer - intact.

"It helps both. It helps American soccer. It helps the Union," she said.

And even those that don't have dedicated schools find it important to tune into their players' academic studies. Yes, that means academies might check grades every now and then.

Meghan Viens, Academy Player Care Specialist at FC Cincinnati, worked extensively in higher education. She has deep connections with local schools - and ensures that academy players attain certain academic standards to be able to participate. The Colorado Rapids, too, are always in tune with off-field development.

"That's another piece that is a real good indicator as well, in terms of not just the grades for those players, but how they are received in a different environment," Chris Cartlidge, the Rapids Technical Director, said. "What does the head of school think about those guys? What do the player welfare people think about those guys?"

For a long time, academies were populated with local players. Got a good right foot and live near Philadelphia? Welcome to the Union. Live in Santa Monica and read the game quicker than everyone else? LAFC will see you now. And there's still some sense in that.

Talent-rich areas exist, and there is every reason for MLS clubs to reach into their local communities for the right players. But now, movement is possible. There is a widespread acceptance that young talents might seek out other areas, or even move altogether, to end up at the spot that best fits their interests. With that in mind, clubs have been forced to accept that they might not be the right spot for some.

In a country the size of the United States, moving to academies is a difficult thing to contend with. It's why some clubs have reached out into their local communities and developed relationships with resident families to take in their players. Cincinnati, in particular, has a well fleshed out system - and it has helped bolster their talent pool.

"We have 10 host families, and some of our host families host more than one player. We are super reliant on our community... it's a home away from home," Viens said. "They are cooking meals, transportation, involving them in the activities that their family is doing."

Colorado, a relatively isolated spot in the scope of American soccer, has done the same.

"Probably upwards of 20 players coming from outside of Colorado to Denver to join our academy, either in homestay programs or families relocating," Cartlidge said. "And I guess that just sort of talks to the level of motivation and commitment these players and these families have to pursuing their dream."

There are other focuses on off-field practices, too. LAFC employ a former MLS player to serve as an official mentor to the players, and help them with their off-field growth. A sport psychologist also supports the kind of ebbs and flows that come with navigating the youth soccer landscape.

"She comes from the UK, has worked with a number of English clubs, but now has a practice here. She's with us every day, working with different players throughout the club," assistant technical director Jordan Harvey said of the academy's sport psychologist.

And there are the other links in the soccer ecosystem. The 2022 MLS Cup champions signed an agreement with Bayern Munich in 2023, and send a number of players to Germany twice per year.

"One of the coaches from the academy staff will go for education, and also see the training session, and catch up with the players," Harvey added.

When MLS Next Pro was founded in 2022, it had its fair share of skeptics. It was unclear, immediately, where the league fit in the landscape. Would it rival USL? Could it be an alternative to the college game? Was it a place that served as a de-facto last stop for players who were never going to be good enough for the first team?

Clubs, though, have started to figure out how to position theirs. For the Red Bulls, it's the perfect avenue from academy to pro, a way of easing in players, giving them professional minutes as they work their way into the senior side.

"We do it internally here when we look at players, and especially because Red Bull, we promote younger players into a really, really great second team," Fitzpatrick said,

The same goes for the Rapids, Cartlidge said.

"You were making educated decisions without all the information, I think really with the introduction of MLS Next Pro, I think there's a much, much longer rant for these guys now to prove themselves as MLS," he said.

The focus in MLS tends to be on the star players who make it immediately. But the vast majority of young players are brought into their respective sides steadily, and build up their minutes as they age. These days, it's all a question of shrewd timing, and positioning players in the right age group - even if that means playing up or down.

"Everyone wants the 16, 17-year-old that's going to jump into the first team, make a splash, perform a high level, become internationally recognized, and potentially be a transfer target for a big European club," Cartlidge said. "Everyone would love that. That's obviously the dream pathway for a player. But it's normally not that way. That's the exception."

Biological age testing isn't uncommon these days. Some footballers might be 14, but have the body and biological development of a 16-year-old. That is often evidence alone to bump up a player, Scheer said. A litany of data is used elsewhere. GPS vests track heart rate, and help offer insight into relative effort and recovery times. All of that, when pieced together, can help project where a player might end up long term.

"What you want to do is identify the guys at each level where their starting to become not necessarily comfortable, but far more at ease of the level they're playing at, but they look very much in control of their performance at that level," Cartlidge said.

But most importantly, the eye test still applies. There is still value to the noticeable first touch, deadly change of pace, or smart reading of the game. Ultimately, it could be the difference.

Of course, it's possible that after everything - preparation, scouting, development and relentless training - a player still isn't ready to feature in the first team. As was the case for McGlynn and Philadelphia, even after years in an academy, a player might not be the right fit.

"We were OK to live with it, and we sold him, and he's now playing in Houston," Scheer said.

In that case, it was a risk worth taking, and a tidy profit for a quality footballer. But those, too, are exceptions. These days, scouting techniques are far more refined. Clubs examine archetypes of players from young ages.

The Red Bulls and Union, in particular, pass up on hundreds of names that other clubs might want - who might have higher ceilings - just because they're not the right profile, Fitzpatrick admitted. These are sometimes qualities that simply cannot be developed: pace, speed of thought, height.

"If you're scouting for most clubs, you just go look for the best player, or the best few players positionally, whatever it is," Fitzpatrick said. "If you're scouting for a Red Bull or Philadelphia Union, or players teams are playing this type of style, it sometimes limits who you look at."

But if not, there's always the transfer market, or the chance of a player electing to move altogether. Still, clubs insist there's an art in knowing when to let a youth talent go - no matter how good he might be.

"So we're not going to be able to sign everybody, and now we're starting to sell players to other MLS clubs and generate value in different ways from our academy - which is good," Scheer said.

There's also the harsh reality that most players don't make it into the professional game. MLS Next alone comprises 753 teams, 151 clubs, and 16,000 athletes on the professional pathway. Mathematics alone dictates that a tiny minority of those will play professional soccer right out of the youth system.

In Europe, dropping out of youth academies has proved a dangerous prospect. Those who don't make it could be in their late teens with nowhere to go, and few qualifications to carry them in life. In the U.S., though, it's a different. While college soccer used to be the only route, some academies are now treating it as the perfect backup.

And they insist that they are preparing all of their players - whether they will go on to be top level pros or not - for some version of the game.

"Wherever you go in the game, you're going to get the best in soccer and the best in school," Scheer said. "You're going to get a private and individualized education, just like the soccer and plan B is going to be a scholarship to a division one university."

There remains the chance, of course, that a player can play throughout the academy system, go to college, and return to the side at an age when they're ready to contribute.

"Some guys need a bit more time," Cartlidge said. "Sometimes it's a positional profile that needs a little bit of a longer ramp to become a pro. Sometimes a goalkeeper, sometimes a center back are harder positions for young players to jump in and be pros at 16, 17, 18."

And even then, a degree could be invaluable for any walk of life.

"There is a possibility that you can get a pro contact, but if you don't, there's a huge entrance into a college. So it's like a win, win, in that sense, because you're prepared for life," Ahmed-Lee said.

Balancing that, of course, is tough. Everyone wants to make it, and clubs are increasingly selective as to who they bring in. While MLS academies are free, and not subject to the issues of pay-to-play rules that have sometimes hampered youth development in the United States, they can still feel pressure from parents with high expectations. But these days, agents make it even tougher.

"It's not like pay-to-play clubs where [parents] are the customer," Scheer said. "We're free of cost, so that helps. But I'd say there's a lot of pressure from agents now, pressures of trying to sign. We feel like the ones that want to create pressure to get signed never really are the ones to have success long-term."

Ultimately, the onus is on the clubs to manage it all carefully. The MLS teams who garnter attention tend to be the those that develop the most professionals, or boast about the youngsters they bring into the first team. And rightfully so. The Union, for example, boast a number of top tier talents - not just that Cavan Sullivan kid - in their first team. The Red Bulls remain excellent.

Even LAFC, a far more recently established academy, are starting to see the fruits of their labor, including the promising Nathan Ordaz, who scored in El Trafico last week.

"We feel strongly about the things we are doing and the things that we have done in the past, that we want to continue," Harvey said. "We feel like we are providing really good resources for our players in a soccer focused way, but also with the site of trying to build good human beings."

Reputations are important, and finding the right balance - saying no at the right times, selling wisely and promoting at the best - is what determines success. Having a well fleshed out system, that promotes the best and supports the those who fall short, is what defines a healthy soccer ecosystem.

Under Commissioner Don Garber, MLS is well on its way to doing that, whether they're cranking out professionals or not. American soccer in general will only improve as a result.

"Football's never been linear. Development has never been linear. Even in school, it's never linear. There's ups, there's downs, and there's crests and valleys," Fitzpatrick said. "Ultimately, it's understanding when to ride the crest and understanding when the valleys come in. And then, it's how do we get them back into that crest?"