The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At 15, Leyva on track to make a quick jump
Sounders give defensive midfielder chance on big stage.
It took a leap of faith for Danny Leyva’s parents to allow him to become the youngest professional player the Sounders have ever signed within their second-tier ranks.
At 15, Leyva made a surprise preseason appearance at CenturyLink Field last week for the Sounders against Club Nacional of Uruguay with more than 30,000 people looking on. The defensive midfielder, barely old enough to lift weights, had already played 90 minutes against the Portland Timbers earlier in training camp but in a smaller Arizona-based setting nowhere near the surreal feeling of an NFL-sized stadium.
“It was a dream come true, honestly,” Leyva said of his home debut. “With all the fans cheering like that, it was just a great atmosphere.”
His father, Ulysses, hopped a last-minute flight from their Las Vegas home when he was told Leyva would be among 18 players dressing for the game, then watched Leyva take the field in the second half with Jordy Delem feeling ill. Leyva’s father played soccer in the amateur academy run by Club America in Mexico until 14, the age when his parents refused to allow him to leave school to pursue a professional soccer path.
Now, having earned a civil engineering degree from a university in Mexico and working for his sister’s real estate firm in Las Vegas, Ulysses, who came to this country 19 years ago, faced his own choices about his son. And it was only after he and his wife, Liz, gave their approval that Leyva left home at 14 to train with the Sounders in their youth academy.
By last October, he became the youngest player to sign a United Soccer League (USL) contract with the Sounders’ Tacoma Defiance affiliate.
“At first it was a difficult choice for all of us,” Leyva said. “But we talked through it and we decided it was my best option for growing as a player.”
His father knew Leyva was a standout student and didn’t want him dismissing educational opportunities — especially with colleges knocking on their door. He pressed the Sounders about their online tutorials, which Leyva is now partaking in with the promise to his family he’ll at least finish high school as he pursues pro soccer.
“He’s a very smart kid,” his father said. “I tell my wife he’s like an old man because he listens to older music, like Phil Collins, and he doesn’t run out partying with his friends and do all that stuff. He’s very serious.”
Still, he’s only 15 and won’t turn 16 until May.
While it’s not unheard of for soccer players abroad to start pro careers at that age — Sounders left back Nouhou launched his at 16 in Cameroon while Gustav Svensson and Kelvin Leerdam were in academies run by pro teams at 14 and 15, respectively, in Sweden and the Netherlands — it rarely happens anymore in team sports in the U.S. and Canada.
MLS has no age minimum, which is how Freddy Adu made his debut with D.C. United at 14 back in 2004. Ben Mines debuted at 17 for the New York Red Bulls last season, while New York City FC signed Joe Scally, 15, to a first-team contract.
Leyva’s father, a youth coach in Las Vegas who’d begun training his son starting at 3, knew he had a special player on his hands. By 5, Leyva was running circles around others his age in organized games and by 10 was playing under-14 soccer against players much older.
Sounders assistant coach Gonzalo Pineda, a former Liga MX and MLS star who began training in pro academies at 15, agreed the outlook on young athletes elsewhere differs greatly from here.
“From what I faced in Mexico, it’s pretty normal to have 15- and 16-year-olds training with the first team,” Pineda said. “Sometimes, even signed with the first team. That’s not unusual.”
Pineda said it boils down to opportunities. More players and parents here, he added, are inclined to think about attending college before pursuing a pro sports career.
Pineda has paid close attention to Leyva in camp. Not just because Leyva’s going through some of the same trials he did, but also from a pure talent perspective.
“We see a lot of improvements,” Pineda said. “He seems to be very active as a center-mid. He’s always willing to get the ball in tougher areas, which is very important for us with our center-mids. He seems to have some good character in terms of personality. Playing with the first team is not a big deal for him. Playing next to Nico (Lodeiro), or for Gustav (Svensson), or Cristian (Roldan) is not a big deal. Playing a big game against Nacional is not a big deal.”
Leyva had actually spent his morning training with his USL team ahead of the unexpected call to action against the Uruguayan side. He’d warned his father the trip up from Las Vegas might be for nothing: to which his dad told him not to worry.
“I told him, whether or not you play, just keep your mind on the pitch — feel it, feel the emotion,” his father said. “I told him ‘At your age, you don’t need to pay bills. You don’t have kids to take care of. Enjoy yourself.’ ”
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