Ranking the best USMNT prospects in modern history: Where does Cavan Sullivan land?

To answer the question in the headline, Sullivan lands really, really high on the list. Not at the very top, but I wouldn't argue with anyone who had him at No. 1. What he's done at age 16 is unprecedented for a US prospect, and I don't blame you if you feel that it's determinative.

Feel free to scroll down to see where I've got him. But first, let's establish the five parameters of this exercise:

• I'm only considering players who head their breakout – be it with the USYNT or at club level – at age 20 or younger. Eddie Pope was amazing at the 1996 Olympics and as a rookie that year with D.C. United, and he... was 22. He wasn't a prospect at that point. He just popped from Zeus's head, a fully formed USMNT center back.
• I'm only considering players I actually saw at that age. Tab Ramos would be on this list, I'm certain – he was playing with the U-20s as a 16-year-old in 1983 – but the first time I saw him was with the US Olympic team, in 1988, when he was already 21.
• The age of a player's breakout season/USYNT performance matters. So, Sullivan doing what he's done at 16 is levels more impressive than what Niko Tsakiris (who I love) did for the U-20s last autumn, at age 20, in what I'd consider his breakout performance (it probably would've come earlier if he'd been able to stay healthy, but que sera).
• I'm going to state the obvious: a player's physical gifts matter. Quicker is better, faster is better, etc.
• Situation matters! I'll give you a spoiler and say that Adri Mehmeti is in my top 10, and in part it's because he's playing for a team that is actually playing him.

That's why this list is tricky. Once you get past the obvious names, you’re basically arguing about degrees of ridiculousness. There are guys who were clearly special at 18 or 19, the ones who looked like future national-team stars until injuries or circumstance got in the way. Performances, as teenagers, that were so compelling you spent the next five years waiting for the rest of the movie to arrive.

Some of them had the athletic profile. Some (fewer) had the technical stuff. Some had the resume (here's to you, Eddie Gaven). A few had all three – but not quite enough, at the right age, to crack the top 10.

And, yes, there are going to be some names here that make you yell at your screen. Sorry about that, but this isn't a ranking of careers, or of who became the best player. It's a ranking of how damn good the prospect looked at the moment the prospect became impossible to ignore.

So, before we get to the top 10, here are the guys who were right there. Let's start with the ones eliminated because they didn't quite fit the above criteria:

Clint Dempsey was not considered a super-prospect at any point. He was merely a good starter with the U-20s before his age-21 breakout as rookie central midfielder with the Revs. Only later did he evolve into the second-best USMNT player of all time.

Michael Bradley, like Dempsey, was never considered a super-prospect. He had a very impressive age-17 season with the MetroStars before his move to Heerenveen, but I don't think anyone who saw him at that age thought "he's going to be one of the best USMNT players ever."

John O'Brien was considered a super-prospect, but I didn't get to see the 1997 U-20s, and he didn't get first-team Eredivisie minutes until he was 21. That's when I first saw him play.

Clint Mathis would be a $30 million No. 9 if he came around today, but played four years of college ball, never got a USYNT call-up, and didn't really break out until he was already 24, with the MetroStars. And he spent more of his career as a second forward or No. 10 than as a No. 9.

Same(ish) for Tony Sanneh, who'd be a $50 million center back if he played today. He played four years of college ball, never got a USYNT camp, and was already 25 when MLS started. He played right midfield with D.C., then right back with the USMNT, then d-mid in the Bundesliga, and finally, later in his career, finished up at center back. It was a very different time.

And here's the ones who just missed my top 10: