da betsson： The youngest player ever to play for the USA national side, Freddy Adu was touted as one of the hottest youngsters in the footballing world. However, just a few years since gracing the international stage for the first time, it’s fair to say things have taken a turn for the worse for the boy from Ghana.
da doce： After growing up in Tema, Ghana, Adu was already showing a sign of things to come when he started playing against men three times his age. However, his biggest piece of luck came just after he turned eight and his mother won the lottery. She decided to uproot and move her family to Maryland in the USA.
Adu settled in the USA and started at school. During his time at school, he joined the football team and helped them to several honours whilst playing for them.
His next break came whilst playing with the U.S Olympic Development Programme, an under-14 tournament that attracted Italian sides such as Juventus and Lazio. 10-year-old Adu impressed at the tournament and, as well as his team winning, he finished as top goalscorer and was voted MVP. His performances prompted Inter Milan to make a six-figure offer for his services – an offer that, at the advice of his agents, his mother turned down.
Break into the MLS
In January 2002, he joined the IMG Soccer Academy, U.S soccer’s full-time academy. His development here allowed him to be included in the 2004 MLS Superdraft. Although Dallas Burn owned the top pick, he was allowed to move the DC United to allow him to play closer to home. The move, in November 2003, took place a couple of months before the official draft. At the age of 14, he was officially the youngest U.S athlete in 100 years to sign a major league professional contract in any sport.
On April 13 2004, he made his debut for United in a game against the San Jose Earthquakes – making him the youngest professional sportsman in the U.S since 1887. A few weeks later, he hit is first goal during a 3-2 defeat to Metrostars.
His first season was a successful one for such a young player. He scored five times, provided three assists and appeared in each of the 30 regular season games for United. He also helped them win the MLS Cup.
Globe trotting didn’t pay off
His second season was also successful, as he continued to find himself regularly involved in first team duties. Before 2006/07 season, he was allowed to join Manchester United on loan. However, as he was unable to gain a work permit, he was only allowed to train with the first team, rather than play in matches. He returned to DC United after his loan expired and continued to impress in the first team.
His performances here earned him a call up to the national side, where he became the U.S’s youngest capped player at 16 years and 234 days in January. He has gone on to earn 15 more caps for the national side, scoring twice in the process, appearing in the 2008 Olympics, 2010 World Cup qualifiers and against England in a friendly.
In December 2006, he moved to Real Salt Lake as part of a swap deal for goalkeeper Jay Nolly. He made his debut on the opening day of the 20007/08 season against FC Dallas. During his time at Real, he captained the under-20 U.S national side at the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. During the tournament, he scored a hattrick during a 6-1 win against Poland.
His performances here prompted Portuguese side Benfica to make a $2 million offer in July 2007, which was accepted by Real. He made his debut in European football in a Champions League qualifier against FC Copenhagen in August 2007. However, this was a very rare high point of his career – this is where it all began to go wrong.
Despite paying a nominal fee for his services, Benfica did not give him as many games as I’m sure he would have liked. He was reduced to mainly substitute appearances and only started twice during the 2007/08 season.
Playing the “loan” role
He was sent out on loan to French side AS Monaco at the start of the 2008/09 season, with the option of a permanent deal available. However, he was to suffer the same fate and struggled to break into the side. He returned to Benfica in July 2009.
With Benfica still unwilling to give Adu a chance in their first team, they agreed to loan him out again, this time to fellow Portuguese side Beleneses in August 2009. Yet again, it didn’t work out for him, and he was back at Benfica just after Christmas 2009.
Just a month after returning, he was off out on loan again. He signed an 18-month loan deal to Greek side Aris, where he linked up with fellow American Eddie Johnson, who was there on loan from Fulham. You can probably guess what happened next. After a decent start, he began to be phased out of the squad and left the club in the summer.
Despite trials with Swiss side Sion and Danish side Randers, he was unable to earn a loan deal. Recently, on February 1 2011, he joined Turkish second division side Caykur Rizespor on loan.
You can’t help but feel sorry for Adu who, at 21, is still young in footballing terms. Was it all the football at an early age that halted his progress, or was it the ill-fated move to Benfica that was to blame? You can’t help but think ‘what if he had been allowed to play for Man United?’ Would Fergie have been able to nurture yet another young superstar?