Although the Philadelphia Union don’t have a first-round pick in Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft, they do have the opportunity to obtain a college player that some might consider first-round talent: the University of Virginia’s Darius Madison.
A former Union academy member and potential Philadelphia Homegrown signing, Madison is fresh off helping Virginia capture the national championship with the game-winning goal in the College Cup semifinals last month.
But the striker had an uneven junior season, battling injuries to score just four goals after an explosive sophomore campaign and leaving his immediate MLS future in some doubt.
“I will say Darius has the tools to play pro soccer,” Union head coach Jim Curtin said. “He’ll be a pro player. We’ll see how that goes in the coming weeks. Those are discussions we’re having. He’s not a guy we forgot about or anything.”
Curtin, who coached Madison with the Union academy’s under-18 team, added that he has a “close” relationship with the UVa striker and that “he has a lot of qualities we like in a player.” But the Union head coach also admitted that Madison “didn’t have the best year” and is “disappointed in his goal production.”
Whether or not the Union opt to sign Madison to a Homegrown deal this year or following his senior season, it seems likely the Philly native is in their future plans as both Curtin and technical director Chris Albright spoke this week of the club’s commitment to its growing academy.
“The importance of the Homegrown player in Philadelphia is a big one because we know where we are as a club,” Curtin said. “We’re not going to spend like the Galaxy or Seattle. Our academy is going to produce the role players – the key guys that come in that you don’t have to lose sleep over because you know you can pencil them in.”
Albright even said the team plans to have a couple of academy players train with the first team during the preseason. And that came on the heels of the technical director saying last month that the Union reached long-term deals to keep Homegrown players Zach Pfeffer and Jimmy McLaughlin in Philly, although they did cut ties with their third Homegrown signing in Cristhian Hernandez.
“We’re constantly evaluating those guys,” Albright said of the current academy players. “We’re going to do a better job moving forward of integrating those guys on a weekly basis with the first team in order to better evaluate their readiness for the MLS level. We’re not going to reveal any specific discussions we’re having as far as signing Homegrowns, but it is something we’re committed to as an organization and a staff.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
