6 hours Ago By Matthew Degeorge
The Union signed center back Neil Pierre on Tuesday, making the 17-year-old the 26th Homegrown Player in club history. Pierre is signed through 2028 with a club option for 2029. He was a standout in Union II’s run to the final of MLS Next Pro last season.
Pierre stands 6-foot-5 and 176 pounds. He joins a thin center back corps that is looking for someone to earn minutes. “Following a standout season with Union II, we are happy to be able to reward Neil with a first team contract,” sporting director Ernst Tanner said in a press release.
“His combination of size, speed, and defensive strength makes him a great asset to our backline. As a young, dynamic center back with immense potential, we look forward to continuing and supporting his development.” Pierre signed with Union II in the summer of 2023.
Born in Harrisburg and raised in Lebanon, he made 22 appearances (20 starts) for Union II last season and provided the game-winning assist in the MLS Next Pro Eastern Conference finals. Before jumping into Union II last season, he was part of the Union Academy squad that won the U-17 title at the Generation adidas Cup, earning a tournament Best XI nod. He had helped the U-15s win the previous year.
He’d also trained regularly with the first team since the previous preseason. Pierre has represented the U.S.
at the Under-15, U-16, U-18 and U-19 levels, captaining the U-16 team. He is also eligible to represent Haiti internationally. His older brother, Nelson, signed a Homegrown deal in Feb.
2023, though after a pair of loan stints, Nelson doesn’t appear to be in the team’s long-term plans. The family moved to Blue Bell when Nelson joined YSC Academy and Neil was in fourth grade. “I was really happy for him,” Neil Pierre said of his brother in an interview last year .
“He’s achieving his goals. That was his first step. It was like, OK, I’m following in his footsteps.
I get to have him as a mentor.” The Union are immensely inexperienced at center back, having parted ways with Jack Elliott (free agency, to Chicago) and Damion Lowe (transfer to Saudi Arabia) since last summer. Only Jakob Glesnes has any MLS experience among the team’s four named center backs.
Pierre joins Olwethu Makhanya, who hasn’t played for the first team in a year and a half since signing, and Argentine loanee Ian Glavinovich. The signing gives the Union 26 players under contract for the 2025 season..
