Four Philadelphia Union homegrown players, Paxten Aaronson, Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan, and Brandan Craig, have been called to training camp for the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team. All of these players are coming from the Union’s impressive homegrown system. Philly has the most represented club on the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team, which only features 17 players. 

The training camp is being held in Bradenton, Florida from January 24th to February 2nd. The National Team is preparing for the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This competition will also count as a qualification for the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Aaronson, McGlynn, and Sullivan already have national team experience from back in November during the Revelations Cup in Celaya, Mexico. This will be the first U-20 Men’s National Team action for Brandan Craig, who was signed to a homegrown contract with the Union on November 12th of 2020, and became effective on January 1st of 2021.

All four homegrown players will return back to the Union in Clearwater for preseason action once the camp has concluded. 

The Philadelphia Union depart for Clearwater on February 1st, but for now, are having in-market training sessions. The club looks to get back to the Eastern Conference Final this year after COVID-19 depleted their roster for the biggest game in team history last season. 

The team will be without their leading goal scorer as striker Kacper Przybylko is no longer with the Union following his transfer to the Chicago Fire. However, in some recent news, it appears they have a historic signing on the way. Nothing is official as of now, but it’s been heavily reported the club has signed top striker Mikael Uhre from the Danish Super League.

Sporting Director Ernst Tanner and the Union still have some pieces of the roster to figure out as well. The potential transfer of Kai Wagner is looming as he as heavily expressed his desire to leave the club during this transfer window. A departure of the All-Star left back would leave the Union with a massive hole on defense. We will have to see what happens with Wagner, but as of right now it appears he is staying on the roster.

Mandatory Credit: Transfermarkt