The Mystery That Is Freddy Adu
There was a hope by Americans that in January of 2004 there was a savior, a the man who would bring the US game to the masses.
Or so the hype machine said about Freddy Adu.
Now almost a decade later, he’s on the bench for Philadelphia Union. Is he that good, or was he made to be something bigger than he was?
Freddy was the first pick in the draft by DC United. Likewise, later in the first round Clint Dempsey was taken by New England Revolution. The American hype machine was looking for that player who could change the sport, and bring the US National team to the next level.
Freddy was thrust into the spotlight at the age of thirteen. He had endorsements and commercials with Pele all before the draft at fourteen years of age. Too much pressure to put on a one guy, or more to the point, kid.
He was immediately put into the senior team at DC United. He hit it big at fourteen, just when most players of his age are in the youth academy and learning how to play the game. Think about that, Neymar, the new phenom made it to Santos top team at seventeen. He had time to learn the sport, grow up, and learn the game. Not that Neymar is the one player to hold up as an example for all young players, but his club, and country have done it right.
That had a lot to do with how he now finds himself playing for Barcelona.
Freddy has the talent and the raw ability to make it big but seems to be a player which the club he plays for has to build the team around him. Philadelphia traded away Sesbastian LeToux and Danny Mwanga away to make it a team for Freddy. That would help the man of many talents and raw ability, right? But he barely got off the bench which was odd for a team that couldn’t score. They had some very young players up top with Chandler Hoffman and Jack McInerney. So that would be enough to make him a star that we were told he was supposed to be. Then they sold him to Bahia, a lower division team in Brazil. Oh and this past week, he was released, for “technical difficulties”.
Translation is that he sucks, can’t train, has a big ego which seems to be too much baggage.
The cautionary tale in the Freddy Adu story is to not build up a player so much that they let it get to their head. Let’s not cut Freddy down, but enough people have written or gone on record saying that he’s not the easiest person to train with and he routinely has Twitter fights with people who post anything bad about him. The next generation of MLS star doesn’t need to be coddled or rushed into the limelight like Freddy was. It wasn’t good. The hype killed Freddy’s career and created the monster that is or was is left of his career.
This offseason instead of spending time at a club on a “training loan” he’s training with a coach in Turkey away from the spotlight. This from a player who was thought of as the next Pele. Oh and by the way, he’s only twenty four so there’s still time for him to come good.
That is either in the lower leagues in the USA or in Europe.
Article written by Stephen Brandt
