Union sign City Islanders’ Sheanon Williams

From the Union:

CHESTER, Pa. (August 31, 2010) – Philadelphia Union today announced the signing of defender/midfielder Sheanon Williams, thus completing the 24-man roster permitted by Major League Soccer regulations. The Union can expand their roster to 26 players with the signing of two home grown players. The 20-year-old joins the Union from the Harrisburg City Islanders, Philadelphia’s USL-2 affiliate. Per Major League Soccer and team policies, the details of the signing will not be disclosed.

A product of the U-17 Residency Program, Williams represented the United States in two youth World Cups, the U-17 World Cup in Korea (2007), where he played for former head coach and current Philadelphia Union Coach John Hackworth, and the U-20 World Cup in Egypt (2009). Raised in Boston, Mass., Williams is the second player to join the Union from the Harrisburg City Islanders. J.T. Noone was signed by the expansion side on July 30, thanks to a partnership signed by the two organizations last February.

PennLive.com's excellent Derek Meluzio has a great post about what we should expect from Williams, and he links to a portion of an article from the Boston Globe with quotes from Williams about his signing, as well as a nice tidbit that Hackworth was behind the contract offer. Meluzio also notes that Williams has trained with the New England Revolution, Real Salt Lake and New York Red Bulls and has trialed at a few European sides. Perhaps we'll see him as early as tomorrow against Chivas de Guadalajara (8 PM/1360 AM in Spanish, Galavision TV broadcast starts at 9 on a 1-hour delay).