Highlights

  • Freddy Adu was once compared to Pele and Messi and had the potential for greatness, but his career took a wrong turn after leaving the MLS.
  • Leaving the MLS was the turning point, as Adu made a series of bad moves and struggled to find success in Europe.
  • Adu's career could have been different if he had listened to his coach and made different choices, but he is now focused on coaching and helping others fulfill their talent.

At the age of 34, most players are still wondering how much more they can give to their team. However, there are some players who fall into the category of walking away from the game around that age, or even earlier. Former USA starlet Freddy Adu falls into that category.

However, it all could have worked out differently for the Ghanian-born player. In an interview with The Guardian, former USA Under-20s coach, Thomas Rongen revealed Adu was just like Messi in the sense that he made such a big impact on Major League Soccer, with the former coach saying:

"In the first year in MLS, DC United, contractually, had to play him at least a few minutes every game, particularly on the road. Freddy Adu was just like Messi or [David] Beckham – on the road there were 40,000 people chanting ‘Freddy, Freddy, Freddy’. Peter Nowak [who replaced Hudson as DC United coach for Adu’s debut season] told me: ‘I had to play him 10 minutes, at least, every game.’

"We tried to protect him as much as we could, but you just couldn’t get away from it. Anywhere we went in the world, particularly after he’d signed to MLS and had sponsorship deals, the spotlight was Freddy Adu, like it is with Messi now. I remember we played the Haitian national under-20 team in Fort Lauderdale. There were 18,000 people. People were coming to watch us practice.

"He had the same stature as Messi, a great dribbler. He was very unpredictable, and for an American player we’d never seen anything like that. He manhandled players and teams in his own age group when he was 14, 15, domestically and on the international level. He could assist and score with ease."

Once dubbed 'America's Pele', Adu was destined for big things in his professional career. But alas, it all went sideways very early on despite all the noise and all the hype he received at such a young age.

Freddy Adu's career statistics

Club

Appearances

Goals

Assists

D.C. United (2004 - 2006)

96

11

8

Real Salt Lake (2007)

11

1

2

Benfica (2007 - 2011)

20

4

0

Monaco (2008 - 2009)

10

0

0

Belenenses (2009)

4

0

0

Aris (2010)

12

2

2

Çaykur Rizespor (2011)

13

4

2

Philadelphia Union (2011 -2013)

41

10

3

Bahia (2013)

4

0

0

Jagodina (2014)

1

0

0

KuPS (2015)

6

0

0

Tampa Bay Rowdies (2015 - 2016)

13

0

1

Las Vegas Lights (2018)

15

1

1

Österlen FF (2021)

0

0

0

All statistics via Transfermarkt (As of 15/02/2024)

How he burst onto the scene

He made his senior debut at just 14

Freddy Adu with former coach Peter Nowak

When a 14-year-old Adu signed his first MLS contract, making him the league's highest-paid player at £500,000-per-year, it received worldwide coverage. Former MLS Commissioner Don Garber appeared to be excited when the contract was signed, as per The New York Times, saying:

"This is the biggest signing in the history of the league. Freddy is one of the top young players in the world and his decision to play in his country and for his league will motivate other youngsters to look to MLS."

On April 3, 2004, Adu came on in DC United's first game of the 2004 season against San Jose Earthquakes as a second-half substitute, making him the youngest player to ever appear in United States professional sports. Just weeks later, he scored his first professional goal in a 3-2 defeat against MetroStars. Unsurprisingly, he became the youngest player in MLS history to score a goal.

By the age of 16, he was playing regularly and had been capped by USA. He was surely destined for greatness and had captured the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, who invited him for a trial in 2006. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to gain a work permit and was unable to feature in any competitive games. During his two weeks in Manchester, he only trained with several players from the academy.

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Where it all went wrong

Leaving the MLS proved to be the turning point

Freddy Adu in action for Benfica

After missing out on a dream move to Old Trafford, things would only get worse for the player. Instead, a series of bad moves saw him leave DC United for Real Salt Lake and then Benfica. He then opted to join Monaco on loan, a decision hedescribed as the worst mistake of his career. Speaking to The Blue Wire Podcast in 2020, as reported by The Mail, Adu opened up on his time in France:

"The biggest mistake I made in my career was leaving Benfica on loan to Monaco. I say it from the heart. It was one of those decisions that, if I could take it again, I wouldn't make it.

"I had three coaches in a year in Benfica. The club was in such a dysfunctional moment that I just wanted to get out of there and go the other way as soon as possible, but it turned out to be the worst decision.

"I joined the club at the same time as Di Mari­a. In the first year, I was better than him. I played better than him, but I decided to leave for Monaco on loan. And Di Maria stayed at Benfica. And guess what? He had the chance to play with a coach who later came and became a starter."

But when he returned to Benfica, he wasn't wanted and was shipped out on loan another three times to teams in Portugal, Greece and Turkey. None of these worked and Adu's world tour was now in full swing. A two-year stint back in MLS with Philadelphia Union was about as good as it got for him as he bounced from Brazil to Serbia to Finland.

He was still just 25 when he returned to America with the Tampa Bay Rowdies - outside of the MLS. A move to Las Vegas followed with Las Vegas Lights, where he only made 14 appearances. The final club of his career saw him sign for Osterlen in the third-tier of the Swedish league. Like a lot of his moves, it just didn't work out, and he left the club without playing a single minute. Filip Lindgren, vice-chairman of the club talked about Adu's time in Sweden, as reported by AS:

"We had an agreement with him that he would have the chance to show himself. But from what we have seen, we have a hard time seeing that he will be able to compete. He has a lot of football in him, but the physical and the mental are missing.

"He was clearly disappointed. He's a really nice guy in every way, and I'm convinced he would have been a great football player. But he lacks the physicality required. We were actually a little surprised at how unprepared he was when he came here."

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It could've worked out differently

If only Adu had listened to his coach

Freddy-Adu-USA

2007 proved to be one of the biggest years of Adu's life. The American shone at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada, captaining the national team as he scored a hat-trick against Poland and impressed in victories against Brazil and Uruguay.. Ultimately, they were knocked out by Austria in the quarter-finals.

Rongen told The Guardian that he was pleading with his agent not to sign with Benfica following his impressive tournament with the US and still making a name for himself at club level. The former Under-20s coach said:

“At the airport after the 2007 World Cup, I was pleading with his agent not to sign with Benfica. I knew Benfica was too big of a step for such a young player. And it proved to be the wrong move. He got loaned out six times in a four-year period.”

What he's doing now

Adu has refused to give up his love for the game

Freddy Adu in action for USA

A glance at his social media accounts suggests he's hung up his boots and taken up coaching as he looks to help players fulfil their talent - something he was unfortunately unable to do. Having someone like Adu to learn from is something that will help the young talent coming up through the ranks, giving players tips that didn't exist when Adu was struggling to grow into a proper professional.

Speaking to CBS Sports Golazo Network in 2023, Adu revealed to Charlie Davies took some time to reflect back on his career and revealed how not taking care of himself when he was younger caused him serious issues when he was older:

"Let's keep it 100. I was able to get into places where a teenager wasn't supposed to be getting into. I had a lot of friends who were older because I played up when I was younger and we were able to go to College Park, Maryland and we'll get into all the bars and whatnot.

"Just little stuff like that, right? And so I was enjoying all that stuff rather than focusing on... let's say the little things like getting the rest that you need, your diet, getting some stretching in and just taking care of your body."

Over the years, the forward missed a lot of games due to back issues. He claimed that once these issues started, they didn't go away, remaining for his career, and it's something that he'd do differently if he could've done it all over again:

"Sometimes, you have all the talent in the world and it's not enough. You've got to work your butt off to maximize that talent and guys who aren't as talented as you, if they work their asses off, they're going to surpass you.

''And it happened in my case. There were a few guys that obviously weren't as talented, but they put in the work and they had more success."