The Philadelphia Union’s roster is mostly built for the 2025 season.
And it is … well, it’s aligned with the vision that Ernst Tanner and new head coach Bradley Carnell have articulated, one that former coach Jim Curtin deviated from, occasioning his firing in November.
It presents a handful of oddities, albeit ones that Carnell and Tanner believe can become advantages.
For one, the roster is simultaneously bloated yet thin.
Tuesday’s signing of Homegrown forward Eddy Davis occupied the 29th roster spot. The 30th appears ticketed for Bruno Damiani, a 22-year-old Uruguayan forward currently on the books at Nacional.
That is the roster maximum, though there is flexibility with loans, both with Union II and outside of the organization. Forward Nelson Pierre, loaned out twice last year, is one candidate.
Damiani would make three foreign signings, with Argentine defender Ian Glavinovich and Serbian midfielder Jovan Lukic. It would fill Tanner’s dictum of adding one new player at every level, though the last two moves have come with limited preseason time.
The roster is thin on MLS experience.
Eleven players have never played in the league before, including all but one center back, Jakob Glesnes. More than half of the roster — 16 of 30 — has fewer than 10 MLS appearances.
The median number of appearances for the roster is eight. The median for starts is four.
None of that appears to be a problem for Carnell, in his profession that everyone gets a clean slate.
“That’s where I feel at home,” Carnell said via video conference Thursday, ahead of the team’s final preseason game on Friday against CF Montreal. “… It’s part of who I am, and part of the beauty of playing in a certain style and in a certain philosophy. The harder you work, the luckier you’re going to get. And some players have been working extremely hard, and they’re going to get extremely unlucky, because they’ve deserved it. They’ve earned everything that they’re getting here in camp. There’s a lot of opportunities to be had, and there’s a lot of competition.”
The experience is tilted by the arrivals. But none of the new faces brings much seasoning. Glavinovich arrives from Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina having played just eight league games and 639 minutes among 30 appearances.
Much of his action has come in Copa de La Liga. Lukic played in the Serbian league, which isn’t a top 20 league in Europe. It’s 22nd in the UEFA coefficient rankings.
He didn’t appear in a game in his first move to a better league, the Austrian Bundesliga, 13th in UEFA coefficient. Uruguay’s top division is also outside of the top 20 in the world, ranking below the second divisions in England, Italy and Germany, with MLS somewhere near the bottom of the top 10.
One interesting wrinkle is that the roster doesn’t include a single player who has played for another MLS club.
The last two such players — Damion Lowe and Julian Carranza — left last summer. The closest among the current group are Oliver Semmle and Chris Donovan, drafted by Colorado and Columbus, respectively, and going through training camp before not being signed.
The Union’s roster is stuffed with 11 Homegrowns. Homegrown players accounted for 7,973 league minutes last year, with 11 goals and 22 assists, and 13 goals and 30 assists in all competitions.
The minutes figure is the highest in club history, surpassing the 5,409 in 2018, while the 13 Homegrown goals in 2020 is the only season exceeding last year’s output. That number may take a hit with the departure of Jack McGlynn, but plenty of others are waiting in the wings.
“We’re pushing every single day,” Carnell said. “And we always believe the internal competition should be greater than the external competition.”
All of that is in keeping with the Union’s methodology of going young and building from within. Which is fine, until you have games like the last preseason game, which ended with Jeremy Rafanello at center back and Nick Pariano at left back, positions neither midfielder plays.
Injuries were to blame: Glavinovich is back after a small knock, while Nate Harriel is working back from one. But injuries dogged the Union last year, and the depth that was found wanting last year hasn’t been reinforced.
One mitigating factor is the schedule.
The Union are not in CONCACAF Champions League/Cup for the first time since 2022. They’ve opted for the U.S. Open Cup instead of the Leagues Cup. The schedule means only four midweek games to start.
Instead of prepping for a schedule that has regularly exceeded 50 games in recent years, they’ll be lucky to hit 40 in 2025.
They also have a new leader with a different philosophy on squad rotation.
“I’m never afraid of changing,” Carnell said. “I’m never afraid of fresh faces in the lineup. I’m never afraid of using all the substitutes. So I’m excited, and all I can only give is what I’m seeing in training, and who’s earning and who’s deserved of those minutes.”
Source: Berkshire mont