Freddy Adu was once touted as the next Pelé, signing a $500,000 contract at the age of 14… and almost ending up in the English amateur league.
Football Manager fans will remember how good Adu was and, given the popularity of the game, fans expected there to be a special talent on the horizon.
4
With his contract with DC United, he became the highest-paid MLS player and the youngest professional athlete in American history at the age of 14. Nike quickly became aware of this unique talent.
Two years later, in 2006, he even got a trial at Manchester United under the watchful eye of Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Freddy has done quite well,” Ferguson said of the then 17-year-old player. “He’s a talented kid. He will return to the US and we will keep an eye on him. When he is 18, we will have to assess what we can do next.”
But it was to be Adu’s only contact with English football, although not according to The Pitch Prospect’s Jamie O’Hara.
The former Tottenham midfielder was a former player and manager of the Isthmian League club and admits he was close to signing the player who enjoyed a similar cult following in America to David Beckham and to whom Lionel Messi is now accustomed.
“I almost signed him at Billericay but we couldn’t get him a work permit,” O’Hara admitted at The Sports Bar. “He’s still hanging around somewhere, he’s still playing.”
And that would have been a major coup for the Essex club, even though they were never able to live up to the high expectations placed on them.
Adu, now 35, has been without a club since 2021 and although he never officially retired from football, he now spends his time coaching children.
4
4
4
Adu has spent time in the USA, Brazil, France, Portugal, Turkey, Serbia, Finland and most recently Sweden.
He did play for big teams in Europe, such as Benfica, where he played alongside Angel Di Maria, and Monaco, but says this was a turning point on his path to becoming a journeyman.
“The only decision I would have made differently was when I left Benfica after a year and went to Monaco on loan. [in 2008]” he told CBS Sports. That started the snowball that led to me being loaned from team to team because I wasn’t patient enough at Benfica.”
In addition to admitting that he could have focused more on becoming the best, Adu also mentioned that Di Maria remained patient in Portugal. “A new coach came, he played and suddenly he went to Real Madrid,” he recalled.
“I go to Monaco and there was a power struggle between coach [Ricardo Gomes] and president – he really wanted me, but the coach felt I wasn’t ready.”
Things may not have turned out quite as Adu had envisioned for his career, but he will forever be remembered as a Football Management legend.
Despite his global success in the game, Adu previously admitted that he had received a flood of messages from fans.
“I get a lot of tweets from people calling me a Football Manager legend and I think, ‘Damn, I wish it was like that in real life,'” he joked in a 2014 interview.
“I haven’t played the game, but a lot of my friends have played it and told me about it, so that’s pretty cool.”
Experience the Sports Bar on The Pitch Prospect every weekday from 10pm