A look at the nine-year career of the 23-year-old American who is starting to find his feet again with Philadelphia Union in the MLS. Will he ever feature in the Premier League?
While it can often be said by pundits and the media that they have grown up with a certain player there is a definite truth in that statement when I say those words about the one time superstar in the making Freddy Adu. Both I and the American international were born on the 2nd of June 1989 and that is about where our similarities end.
When I was 14 I was dreaming of the life that Freddy was most likely living as he became the youngest person to sign a professional sporting contract in the USA as the first round draft pick in 2004.
His precocious talent saw him dubbed ‘the next Pele’ by many pundits after outstanding performances for the US youth teams where he scored 37 goals in 59 games across three age groups.
Yet his career has not hit anything near the heights once predicted of him as his destiny of leading out the side at the 2010 World Cup never came to fruition.
His career started to unravel following a trade to Real Salt Lake from DC United which was to be short-lived as he finally decided the time had come to have a crack at European football with a shock switch to Portuguese side Benfica. He struggled with niggling injuries while in Portugal but still managed five goals in 20 appearances which wouldn’t be considered too bad for a debut season on the European stage but then came the loan spells that seemed to define the next few years of his career.
Firstly there was the Monaco debacle, where he featured just 11 times and failed to find the net in a series of poor performances. Benfica then sent him to fellow Portuguese side Belenenses, where he was again poor and his deal cut short as they toiled at the foot of the Portuguese table.
His next stop was Greece with Aris Thessaloniki which despite being slightly more effective than his two previous loan deals was still marginal in its success.
Yet a temporary spell at Caykur Rizespor galvanised the talent when he scored four times in 11 appearances and impressed with his general play. He also had a decent Gold Cup performance under his belt for the US after a shock call-up and moved back to his homeland with Philadelphia Union last year.
Now it seems he is starting to get his career back on track, scoring twice at the weekend against Houston Dynamo, as he aims to force himself back into the USMNT becoming an integral member of a Union side pushing for the play-offs.
He is inconsistent, that is his main frailty, but he is also talented with a magnificent range of passing and vision. While his career may never reach the heights of the Premier League that was one day predicted for him he is starting to forge a pretty good career back in the US and at 23 his whole career lies ahead of him and I will be with him all the way as our lives tick away at the same speed.
What do you make of Freddy Adu’s career so far? And can he ever play in the Premier League?
images: © NathanF, © wjarrettc
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