Revolution make 15-year-old player from Connecticut the youngest to sign a first-team contract

“He’s pushed up the timeline,” Revolution technical director Curt Onalfo said. “We put him in the environment and he just thrived.”

At 15 years, 216 days, Miller is 58 days younger than Diego Fagundez was when he signed with the Revolution in 2010 and became the youngest player to perform for the first team at 16 years, 173 days. Fagundez, now with Austin FC, is the most successful player to come through the Revolution’s system, second on the team’s scoring list with 53 goals.

The academy program appears to be improving, with 18-year-olds Buck, Esmir Bajraktarevic, and Jack Panayotou along with Damian Rivera (20) and Justin Rennicks (24) performing for the first team this season. Miller will join the first-team roster next year.

“We have high expectations,” Onalfo said. “But there’s up and downs. Noel had a lot of ups and downs before he became ready. The fact is he got 60 games before he was ready.

“The beauty of having a second team is you can make those mistakes, you can have ups and downs. Winning the game is not as important as with the first team, so you can take some lumps, you can play through bad spells, whereas first team you can’t.

“Our coaches aren’t incentivized to win championships; they are paid to develop players for our first team. We have a really good plan, we’ve put a lot of energy and a lot of thought and instruction into it, and [Miller] is in that pathway. We’ll see how he goes through it. Next year he’ll be a first-team player, positioning himself to get some minutes probably the following year.”

Miller, 5 feet 7 inches and 154 pounds, grew up a Revolution supporter and played for Oakwood (Conn.) Soccer Club before joining the Revolution in 2021. Last season, he scored five goals in nine games for the franchise’s U17 team and led the U15 team with 25 goals in 28 games.

“Taking this next step in my development is a dream come true,” Miller said, “and I appreciate my family and all of the coaches for the guidance and support that helped make this possible.”

Onalfo expects the academy pipeline to continue producing.

“We’re putting a lot of effort into the community, too, so other surrounding clubs are getting better and better,” Onalfo said. “If everyone gets better, there is a chance of creating a hotbed. And, also, you need vision and belief, so they get that by seeing kids make it.

“We have a system and way of working and we’ve just got to make sure the right materials are in there. If we keep doing it right — I’m always preaching to the staff our job is to make everyone a little bit better every day — and if we do that and look back in a month or two, a year or two years, and all of a sudden you start making this real progress.”

Miller is the latest New England product, but the Revolution are also recruiting nationally.

“There are a lot of good players,” Onalfo said. “It’s just a matter of what are you teaching them? Put them in a competitive environment, where they can’t get away with making mistakes. The goal is to have players coming through. I don’t have a magic wand to say what that’s going to be.

“We put together a plan for Noel Buck when he was 15, mapped out a timeline where we would do the best we can to get him 60 games before he’s 18. That happened, then he had opportunity and he took it.

“It’s different for everyone. We keep producing the guys and then, if they’re not put in the starting lineup, they are depth. And when they get the opportunity, they make the most of it.”

Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at frankdellapa@gmail.com.