Photo by ISIphotos.com
Freddy Adu's tenure at Portuguese club Belenenses appears over.
According to Portuguese publication Record, new Belenenses manager Toni has started his term as head coach by cutting some dead weight from the roster, including Adu, who is being sent back to Benfica.
On loan from Benfica since the start of the fall campaign, Adu had struggled for playing time with his new club, but will now face even stiffer competition for minutes at Benfica. That is, unless he makes another move this winter. Adu has been hinting on Twitter that he has a big decision to make regarding his career. Whether that means considering a return to MLS, or a move to a smaller league like Denmark or Belgium remains to be seen. What appears clear at this point is that Adu looks unlikely to break through in Portugal.
What do you think of this development? Disappointed he didn't get playing time for Belenenses? Think it's time for him to come back to MLS? Hoping Adu heads to Holland or a smaller European league?
Share your thoughts below.
From Freddy’s Twitter Account:
fellas i have had a deal on the table but we have to think about what the best situation is. Cant rush into anything. has to be right!
the next pele…. lol. americans are funny.
Dont give up Freddy Adu! As long as you dont quit on us, we wont quit on you!
From Freddy’s Twitter Account:
dont worry my friends this was agreed upon a while ago. Never even met this new coach at Belenenses.
Good point, but his play certainly didn’t warrent any extension on the loan. Even a new manager trys to keep his best players when he comes in….
Latest Donovan interview (faux):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYcDCUhHKbw
Its sad really. They’re dead last so they’re cleaning house and starting fresh for the last half to see if they can get out of relegation. Besides, as I reported on FN not long ago, his last number of starts and times off the bench have been dim…
What now?
Check out my interview with Landon Donovan before he leaves for Everton (faux?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYcDCUhHKbw
Is he still14? LOL. He is a wash has been a wash. Bringing him back to MLS will be a disaster for the league. You have players such as DB, Freddy L. that are trying still to play in a high level and working their tails off and then you are trying to bring back a Hollywood Adu. He need to go back to Potomac Soccer club and play Super Y. He is still 14? LOL.
im not on freddy’s bandwagon, but you’re just talking out of your ass, dude.
dos santos, krkic and weiss are all clearly better than freddy adu.
Ives I can’t wait to read an article with your point of view on this situation. I can only hope Adu learns from Benfica/Monaco/the other Portuguese team where he couldn’t find the pitch.
He is very young but goodness he needs someone to sit him and down and tell him to focus his drive and talents towards the pitch, drop twitter, facebook, and all the other time-wasting websites, and build the drive and patience to be the player we all know he can be.
It’s tough to call at this point in his career what he’ll become, but it’s a huge shame that the last 5 years of his development have been ruined, albeit not 100% a waste.
Being one of the US’s top youth prospects, why doesn’t the USSF do something about his career? Put out a public statement asking him to come home to get more playing time or something. I feel as if his agent is misguiding him instead of focusing their energy on how to further his development.
I’d gladly welcome him back to DC…
he needs to go back to DC playing in front of family might rejuvenate his career call it a reset if you will. lets all forget he was 14 when he went pro.
wholeheartedly agree. Let’s hope he sets his ego down and goes somewhere where he can play regularly and progress at a steady pace. One thing he certainly needs is focus and patience.
Adu was/is overrated. Not so much anymore because people are starting to realize he isn’t the second coming he was made out to be.
Hey could come back and make an impact in MLS, but unless something changes dramatically, I don’t think he has a future in Europe.
No MLS team wants him. A year and a half ago a few MLS and USL clubs said they were not interested, which is why he ended up in Monaco. Press reports, including a New York Times article, confirmed this lack of interest. Adu’s ego is such that he would probably turn up is nose at any MLS or USL team that could be talked into taking him. I think he is finished and the biggest problem seems to be his attitude, not his age, height or relative lack of speed.
just pull a donovan adu! and comeback to MLS plz. can anyone wih twitter just tweet that to him over and over again please?
He’ll get made fun of here by many, but the us is the only place anyone will care to see him play. he should come back
I never believed any of the Adu story and see no reason to change my mind now. I don’t think he is 5.8 as listed. I think he is more like 5.3, too small for anything beyond high school. I don’t think he is 20. He graduated high school when he was 14 and I sure do not think he skipped 3 grades along the way. I think he is around 27 and recent photos seem to show him losing his hair. I could be wrong about these opinions but I doubt it. I do think he has shown little or no hustle, team loyalty or grit. He left Salt Lake City on game day and the National Team in the middle of the Gold Cup. Would a team player do that? Freddy is strictly about Freddy, and I think it is a tragedy that the National Team and MLS were rebranded as the Freddy Adu Show. The damage is incalculable. Don’t you think damage control is long overdue and other US players should get a little of the spotlight? Ignore him until he does something of value on the soccer pitch. You may well be waiting for a long time.
Freddy is in a tough spot. The World Cup would a great shot a redemption for him, but in order to make the team, he needs playing time right now. He can’t wait for the start of the MLS season.
got to face it sooner rather than later, ADU is not as good as US fans had hoped. He has proved time and time again that he cannot perform at the highest level. it’s time to stop pinning your hopes on him coming good and see him for what he is….an average player with too much hype attached to him
You guys are overblowing this.
The two players that were on loan to Belenenses have been sent back to their respective teams. A third Felipe Bastos,also on loan from Benfica, went back once the manager was fired.
this will be a lesson for many other young players to carefully watch .. choose your career path carefully and wisely and be a student of the game as well as a consummate professional …..
He’s soooooooooffffft menatlly and physically.
His last hope for a non-US paycheck is to attempt to prove himself in denmark, holland, or Belgium. Even then, he likely will never make a larger squad in a top-Euro league.
The word is out on him = no work ethic and lack of soccer brains due to reliance on skill.
He will be back in MLS within 2 yrs and become the average midfielder that shows sparks of talent —- resembling Mathis.
Picture the sports car that looks REALLY cool, but you can never keep it out of the shop due to constant minor malfunctions.
Bash Freddy about his lack of playing time, physicality or skill. Not tabloid-y garbage about his age.
Two and half seasons with 24 League appearences with 2 goals.
Says all that needs to be said.
Still he 20. If he finds somewhere that values him enough to play. Maybe he has a shot at WC 2014 at age 25.
This guy needs to fire his agent or whoever is giving him counsel, humble himself and start over. He needs to find a league where he can get meaningful playing time and work his butt off to improve his game.
This guy has been given awful counsel and needs to humble himself and realize he has made some mistakes. He needs to commit himself to his work and not to his popularity on his Twitter account.
Freddy this is a wake up call for you. Will you hear the alarm. This is coming from a brother in Christ. Read Proverbs 2:1-5, 3:1-6 and Proverbs 4. Get wisdom and get some good counsel!
“Pato” was the best forward from Brazil at the time, and “Adu” was the best playmaker from… Oh, right, America. That doesn’t tempt anyone. Except certain teams that just wanted him for the name, for some kind of relief from the press. So he went to Benfica, where the management was only using him.
Pato didn’t do amazing things his first year with AC Milan, but he still got playing time, and his teammates at the time included Kaka and the rest of the Milan legends (in short, they have more money and quality than most in Italy). And the next year, surprise, he started playing really well. (I’m betting Jozy will do the same thing next season).
Pato probably is more talented than Adu, but not to the degree that most people seem to think. I still remember when Adu, trapped in a corner by two Brazilian U-20’s, juggled his way between them and sparked Jozy’s second goal.
Yes, I think he needs a lot of attention, and no, he’s not going to be a superstar as many had hoped. But he got the worst of both worlds, a Huge name and celebrity combined with a poor international value.
Poor training habits…
Spot on Andy!
Word on the Street is that Adu has been enjoying the European night life a little too much. He’s gained “bad” weight and lost a step. Quickness and guile is his game. Without it, good luck to him. He needs to become a true professional…otherwise…no one will touch him.
It was his high pay that stopped him from moving to the belgian team because they couldn’t pay his wages. I think like most people he needs to suck it up and find a team that will play him and work his butt off. I think he won’t come back to MLS for a few reasons. 1. the money 2. He feels he’s better than the league and the players in it. 3. If He fails to find time in MLS then his career will seriously be over. As long as he stays in europe, we here can always speculate as to whats happening with him, we’ll never truly know the truth, if he came back here his issues would be clear as day. Personally I’m over him, I’m more excited about Torres, Holden, Luis Gil and some of the kids I see coming up like Oliver on the u17 he looks like the next robbie rogers so I’d rather watch the development of these kids then hash on the shortcomings of a guy who believed his own hype.
I think the guiding rule for a lot of our young guys in Europe is that if you aren’t seeing regular playing time after 3 years, then it’s time to come home or find a lesser league where you can play.
I watched Adu during his career at United. I wasn’t impressed then and I’m not surprised now.
I think Adu has been more hype than substance throughout his career. Also, just because a kid has some success at age 15 doesn’t necessarily translate into senior level achievement.
Think about how many promising apprentice pros you have at Arsenal or Man United or Chelse or Liverpool, that never make a serious impact in the EPL or in any major league.
Bingo. The thing is, we can speculate all we want to but we really don’t know why he isn’t playing. And the only thing that’s going to solve that is Freddy getting somewhere, working his butt off in training to prove the naysayers wrong, and play lots of minutes. Here’s hoping you do man, some of us are still pulling for ya.
For most of you out there ripping up Freddy right now…
I believe you guys are being tremendously unfair to a kid who has done quite a bit for the hype of football in America. Ill be the first to say that Freddy hasnt had the type of career we all had hoped or wished for, but to be honest, the amount of pressure on him at such an early age was unfair. However, he has brought a lot of people into the sport through his popularity and the hype created around him. It’s time that people start being realistic about who he is and what type of player he is. He is still young, and can definitely still have a good career as a professional footballer, probably wont be a superstar though. Dont hold that against him. If he could see solid time playing at a technical level that is any higher than the MLS, growth will occur. he has yet to find the right team. I just dont think people have a grasp on the reality of his situation and take it out on him in a negative way. Ives?
I see inconsistencies in what posters say all the time on this site. Many of them change their minds every week.
If he did come back to the MLS? Who gets him? RSL, or DC United or do they share his rights? I can’t remember what the terms of the trade were? If it’s RSL, maybe the could trade him. I would still take him over Pablo Campos on the roster though. He’s a good player, just dosent fit RSL anymore. Maybe you could answer this for me Ives, or anyone?
(SBI-It’s always tough to tell since MLS rules are always changing, but as far as I understand it a team loses the rights to a player if it spends the transfer revenue earned from that player’s departure. If so, then nobody has Adu’s rights and he goes to the first team in the Allocation order to use a pick on him.)
Adu is his generation’s Jovan Kirovski. Except Kirovski has more size and pace. I watched Adu during his seasons with DCU and he just didn’t get better, once and awhile something sublime, but a whole lot of ordinary in between. He should return to MLS, where he would get playing time. However, playing time will not improve lack of pace and small size. In many ways, his skill set is more deficient that a similarly sized U.S. player — Bobby Convey.
This is good news..Freddy was obviously never going to play for them, even though he is clearly good enough. He needs a fresh start. He is so young there is plenty of time in his career to regain form..
He should play at League 1 or 2 in England.
I’ll admit, I haven’t looked at his tweets, but i just assumed that the issue was the pure quantity of his tweets, rather than the content of them.
Chalk that one up to ignorance.
I Think a smaller European league would be a good fit. He is only 20.
If he was smart he should come back to the MLS, and maybe be lucky to get a move to the Union (assuming RSL still ownes his rights) and get there DP spot. This way his pay cut wont be as drastic, and he wont be so upset over it. He needs to come back to the MLS, before it is to late, or his career will be over before he knows it. I know I would take him with the Red Bulls, he would be a good offensive tool to have and he would be a big name to help turn around the Red Bulls and bring the fans to Red Bull Arena. That is of course if the Red Bulls cant bring Henry to NY. Flat out though Freddy needs to go back to the MLS, and hope for a Landon Donovan type career now.
(SBI-Peter Nowak will shave his head and become a rapper before Freddy Adu gets Philly’s DP slot.)
I hope Freddy goes to some club where he can play, irregardless of the league or club. MLS is fine, Denmark, Belgium, or the Netherlands as well. Let’s go Freddy! Find a club, work hard, and break the starting lineup!
Question: If he came back to MLS and specifically to San Jose, would he be better or worse than Bobby Convey?
“fakin’ Jamaican Beckerman”
That was epic!
my thoughts exactly. i think the revised edition of the Tampa Bay Rowdies is looking for a benchwarmer. maybe he can earn jis keep by carrying the team’s equipment and driving the bus on road trips.
Oh, listen to all of you slaughtering your golden calf. You hype him up as the messiah and now you’re ready to throw him on the rack.
Freddy Adu is a great player. I still believe that, because I’ve seen it. He can still run circles around the likes of fakin’ Jamaican Beckerman. Even when not getting full playing time at Benfica he managed to sink 5 goals for them. Benfica obviously wants to hold on to him for some reason if they are just loaning him out, and I doubt they’ll let him go on a free transfer in the transfer window.
It’s a head scratcher as to what is holding him back. It possibly is immaturity and not pushing himself in training (sometimes I hear Eddie Johnson was notoriously guilty of when at FC Dallas)
I think right now Adu needs to slug it out in the Danish, Dutch, or even Swedish league to salvage his European prospects than go back to the security blanket of the MLS.
He should take the paycut that a move back home to MLS would earn him.
He’s still among the most skilled American players on the ball. Yet he also has clear weaknesses in dealing with physical play and meshing well with his teammates both on and off the ball.
I bet almost any team in MLS would take him – and play him – if he were willing to play for $100K a year.
the problem is all mental IMO. I am no shrink but from the looks of it he got these delusions of grandeur issues (ives hit it on the head)
When you’re 14 and got Garber bowing down at your feet, varous sponsors throwing money at you, lil wayne mentioning you in his rap songs, of courser this stuff is going to screw with his head. Classic child celeberty case.
He should seriously walk the earth ala Lee Nguyen and rediscover himself
Ives, if that’s the case, do you think he can still find a suitor from the Dutch, Belgian, or Danish leagues?
Freddy Adu’s job is to be the player who does fantastic things with the ball. Whether they come in flashes or for 90 minutes is up to his playing time. He’ll learn to do the basic things at a smaller club when they start his development from the bottom up and then we’ll see the skills he has more frequently.
its interesting to see how he would actually do in MLS now if he came back. It would definately give him more confidence though, being back home….
i think its possible Nowak may make a call for a loan or if Freddy just leaves then you could see Freddy anywhere in MLS. I definately think MLS is what Freddy is referring to on Twitter however.
Yes, Freddy would greatly benefit from more playing time. It’s unfortunate his stint with Belenenses went so poorly, but for every player like Pato (who is getting regular playing time) and Balotelli there are young phenoms like Gio Dos Santos, Bojan Krkic, and Vladimir Weiss (off the top of my head – I am sure there are more) who are seemingly lost in the shuffle much like Freddy. Yes, there is a difference between sitting on the bench at Barcelona (Krkic) and Belenenses – I get that. But do not forget that players like Dos Santos and Krkic were getting more playing time two years ago than they are now. Even Jozy, who is getting pretty regular playing time with Hull, couldn’t get a sniff at second division Xerez last season. There are plenty of other differences, but the point is that none of them are old enough to be considered busts, washed up, or anything of the sort. They just may take some time to come good. I have no doubts that Freddy will eventually become a quality starter for a good team -but it may yet be a few years.