The Union’s pride in its youth academy is understandable. The club has long held the goal of developing championship-caliber players from within, and its investments have been validated by the successes of players like Derrick Jones.
So it was surprising to see two of the academy’s top teenage prospects, forward Chad Letts and defender Rayshaun McGann, leave the team this summer. And when both landed at MLS expansion team Atlanta United, close observers of the youth soccer scene took notice.
Union fans sounded alarms of their own, fearing that Atlanta was using the glamor of its flashy first season in MLS to poach the players from Philadelphia.