Ever since he emerged on the scene, American soccer fans have been diligently tracking his progress for years; he’s been our golden child, the kid who could make it, the one guy we finally had that had that combination of technical ability, physical maturity, and instinct that’s impossible to teach.
It’s not impossible to foster it, however, and as of yet that hasn’t happened. Benfica have apparently frozen him out of the side. He’s trying to get a loan move, but his most recent attempt – a season long loan to Danish club Odense BK – fell through over wage demands last week. See, Benfica wants his loan destination to pay for his whole wage bill; Odense BK wasn’t willing to do that.
Adu’s been told by Bob Bradley that he needs to be playing regularly for a club to get even a sniff at a national team callup. His club isn’t going to play him, and there’s only a week left in the transfer market; with Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, and Kenny Cooper all managing to both play and impress abroad, the challenge for Adu is clear: find a club willing to take on your wages and actually play you in a week’s time, or put your chances of getting a callup to the World Cup in very serious jeopardy.
If I were more clever, I’d be able to give you a list of clubs that Adu could be productive at. Three years ago, that list included everybody; he had a trial at Manchester United, he was a star at the U-20 World Cup, and ultimately was worth about $2 million to Benfica. Today, that list is mercilessly short, and is starting to include mostly MLS clubs.
The problem is – again – the salary issue. We’re used to American athletes and their holdouts over contracts; this isn’t that. In several leagues, there’s a minimum salary requirement for non-EU players. That’s the case in the Eredivisie, which has long been touted as a perfect landing spot due to their strict technical coaching; unfortunately, any team wanting to bring Adu in will have to pay him somewhere around $10,000 a week, which is far more than he’s likely to be valued at. A similar dynamic may have surfaced in the Odense situation.
So right now, Adu’s left with precious few options. He can’t get a work permit in England. He won’t ever play for Benfica. Monaco didn’t want him. Charlie Davies has already scored more goals in his three appearances with Sochaux than Adu’s scored for any of the European clubs he’s at.
So we’re left with this reality: Freddy Adu is only twenty years old and there’s a very real possibility that his career is already over.
Report: Adu loan move to Odense falls through [ESPN]
Freddy Adu: ‘Ik wil graag in Nederland spelen’ [Sportweek]
And So It Continues [No Short Corners]
Pato and Adu on top [FIFA]
Another job well done by Don Garber and the Jackass Patrol at MLS. Buy a 14 year old kid, pay him $500,000 a year, hold a press conference in which you tell everybody he’s the chosen one and then bench him. Awesome move Don. Please tell us more lies about MLS’ wonderful track record of developing young players. You Cunt.
I wouldn’t say over, the talent is still there, but he’s got to land in a place that’s willing to nurture that talent and allow him to grow (and more importantly, play regularly).
[...] Much of Freddy Adu’s career could be prefigured this week. (Avoiding the Drop) [...]
Yep, Freddy Adu. For the average American (barely aware of footy), he’s one of those “Hey, whatever happened to that guy?” Sad. I hope he gets things situated for himself, he really does have talent.
Freddy would be best off playing for some of the smaller leagues – Romania, Netherlands, Belgium come to mind. The major problem is that Benfica spent to much money and they are not going to get it back at this juncture– maybe in two years if they can find the right team Benfica — word to– you try Club Brugges, AA Gent, NAC, VVV, FC Utrecht, Urziceni, Pandurii, or even Dinamo Bucuresti (who can use all the help they can get). He has talent just needs to be playing somewhere and now.
I agree, but the smaller leagues are likely to either not want to pay the kind of money that Adu would require (again, due to foreign player requirements, not Adu’s personal demands) or to not want to sacrifice a foreign player slot on a guy who’s essentially unproven at the club level. The lower leagues of England could be an option, but I’m not sure he qualifies for a work permit (I think you’d need to play in 75% of your country’s national team games in the last year, which he hasn’t done).
“Charlie Davies has already scored more goals in his three appearances with Sochaux than Adu’s scored for any of the European clubs he’s at.”
Davies had 2 goals at Sochaux, Adu had 2 for Benfica, in fewer minutes as well. If you include non league goals Adu had 5 I believe.
But Davies has only been on Sochaux’s roster for 3 games, Adu’s been at Benfica forever and never could reach the field. Freddy clearly needs to go somewhere that he’s given an opportunity, because he’s not getting it there.
This was the point I was clumsily trying to make. Davies and (possibly) Altidore have the ability to help the teams they play for; whether or not they’re the main focal points, they’re still at least quality squad players. Adu can’t even really claim that at this point; he’s still a prospect, and the window of opportunity where other teams may be interested in trying to develop that talent is slowly shutting.
[...] The Strange Course Of Freddy Adu’s Career by Magnakai Haaskivi @ Avoiding the Drop [...]
It doesnt matter anyway, he is coming to Southampton to ply his trade. Watch this space