Freddy Adu - Benfica

Now the best young football talent in the world (apparently) has moved to Europe (Benfica on a 5yr deal) do you think we will finally see what all the fuss was about all those years ago or do you think he'll just vanish??

I've never really seen MLS so have never seen him play but he was highly rated and quite alot of European clubs did look at him but I just wondered why he was never actually bought, also I think I heard that he was actually older than they said he was (a risk with Afican players) so that maybe one of the reasons no one ever bought him.

Anybody have and info on him?

 

He is rated only because he was a very powerful marketing tool. He had a ridiculous amount of pressure on him when he first came into the game which really exposed his true talent....he is very irratic and technically average. He couldn't make it at DC United and was inconsistent at Real salt Lake.....wonder how many shirts benfica are going to sell in america?

Just looked him up and found this:

Adu grew up in the port city of Tema in Ghana, Africa, where he played soccer against men three times his age. [2] When he was eight, his mother won the Green Card Lottery, and he and his family moved to Washington, D.C., and in 2003 he became a U.S. citizen.

Soon after arriving in the United States, he was discovered by a local soccer coach and began playing with boys several years older. Adu attended The Heights School for several years, a private school in Potomac, Maryland.

 While playing with the U.S. Olympic Development Program in an under-14 tournament against the youth squads of such traditionally strong Italian teams as Lazio of Rome and Turin’s Juventus, Freddy’s team won the competition and he led the tournament in scoring and was named MVP.[3][4] Adu was noticed by Italian soccer clubs, including Inter Milan, who discussed a six-figure offer for him that was turned down by his mother on the advice of his agents.

At age 12 in January, 2002, Adu joined the IMG Soccer Academy, U.S. Soccer's full-time residency program in Bradenton, Florida. He made his professional debut in Major League Soccer in early 2004, at just 14 years of age, and now plays for the United States Under-20 national team.

Adu has played for the United States in four international tournaments: the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland, the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates, the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands, and the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada.

Adu dated American pop/R&B singer JoJo from May 2005 until September 2006. A Washington Post article in November 2006 reported that the couple split after one year.

Jojo mentioned on American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest that she and Adu were still good friends.  Adu is also sponsored by Nike Total 90. Freddy's younger brother is also a soccer player. Fro Adu has agreed to join George Mason University for the upcoming college season

Sorry I'm a bit relaxed with American players even if they were born in Ghana.

Now the best young football talent in the world (apparently) has moved to Europe (Benfica on a 5yr deal) do you think we will finally see what all the fuss was about all those years ago or do you think he'll just vanish??

I've never really seen MLS so have never seen him play but he was highly rated and quite alot of European clubs did look at him but I just wondered why he was never actually bought, also I think I heard that he was actually older than they said he was (a risk with Afican players) so that maybe one of the reasons no one ever bought him.

Anybody have and info on him?

 

I actually heard a few months a go he was on trial at Man United and they wanted nothing to do with him after that.