Freddy Adu was the name everyone knew when he came onto the scene at 14 years old. He created much excitement among football fans and FM players. This American teenager had talent that was compared to the great Pelé,, but with great expectations, there can be great disappointments.
Freddy Adu was the name everyone knew when he came onto the scene at 14 years old. He created much excitement among football fans and FM players. This American teenager had talent that was compared to the great Pelé,, but with great expectations, there can be great disappointments.
Exciting Prospect
Starting out at DC United at the young age of 14, Freddy was able to break several records, including becoming the youngest athlete to sign a professional contract in the United States. Freddy was chosen as the number one pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, effectively making him the first player selected in the draft before it officially took place as he was already signed with them.
Adu continued to break records on April 17th as this was when he scored his first professional goal in the 75th minute of a 3-2 away loss against the MetroStars, making him the youngest player in MLS history to score a goal. Freddy was living up to expectations and certainly not disappointing both in real life and in Championship Manager. Freddy continued to score goals for DC United and finished his first season as a pro with 5 goals and 3 assists in 30 season games. Freddy continued to steadily score goals and by 2006 had scored 11 goals in Major League Soccer for DC United.
Growing opportunities
Freddy's opportunities continued to grow at the end of 2006 when he was given a 2 week trial at Manchester United. During a report from BBC Sport, Sir Alex Fergeson said “Freddy has done alright. He is a talented boy. He’ll go back to the US and we’ll keep a check on him. When he is 18, we will have to assess what we can do next.”
Adu was traded to Real Salt Lake at the end of 2006 along with Nick Rimando for a major allocation, Jay Nolly and future considerations. He scored 2 goals during this time, one against FC Dallas and another in an exhibition against Boca Juniors. Freddy was chosen as captain of the U-20 United States men's national team in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup where he continued to impress leading to Benfica securing Freddy’s rights from MLS for a fee of $2 million.
Downhill fall
Sadly for Adu this was when everything started to fall apart and the wonderkid we had once loved wasn’t living up to high expectations. Freddy had 14 appearances with Benfica between 2007 and 2011 managing to score 2 goals in these. During his time there he was loaned out to AS Monaco with the option to join Ligue 1 per a fly but this was declined by Monaco. After this Freddy was Loaned to Belenenses for the 09-10 season before going on loan to Aris followed by Çaykur Rizespor.
Adu finally returned to MLS in August 2011 when he signed with Philadelphia Union and scored several goals over his 2 years with the club. Things seemed to be going steady for Freddy during this time. However Freddy seemed to move from club to club again at a rapid pace after Philadelphia Union, never quite finding a home for his talent. Between leaving Philadelphia Union in 2013 and 2021, Adu’s talent graced 6 clubs until finding Österlen FF in 2020 after a 2 year hiatus.
Freddy expressed his excitement at being able to play professional football once again after working as a youth football coach during his two year hiatus, passing on his knowledge and skills to the next generation. Yet again, things were not meant to be for Freddy and it was announced in February 2021 that his contract had been terminated with the club. It was deemed by the club that Adu was not mentally or physically fit enough to be competitive in Ethan. Adu disputes this by claiming it was internal conflict within the club that led to his exit.
It’s a shame to see a once great talent with what seemed like a promising future travel such an unfortunate journey in his career. Adu is currently without a club and it seems his football career may be at an end. After breaking several records at such a young age, Freddy seems to have set the bar far too high for the rest of his career and was never able to fulfil and live up to those expectations. Huge talent, wasted or overestimated?