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Adu joins AZ Alkmaar on trial

Freddy Adu (11)

By RYAN TOLMICH

Dutch side AZ Alkmaar have enjoyed their fair share of success stories when it comes to utilizing American talent. With current U.S. Men’s National Team forwards Jozy Altidore and Aron Johannsson as products of the club, AZ are now looking towards its next possible American project.

AZ announced that they have brought in American forward Freddy Adu on a trial basis in what would be the 25-year-old’s third stop of 2014. Adu, who has trained with English side Blackpool and Norwgian side Stabæk this year, was welcomed to AZ by the club’s official Twitter account Sunday.

Adu has made nine official stops in the eleven years since he was signed by D.C. United as the youngest player in U.S. pro sports at the age of 14. The forward has made stops in the United States, Brazil, Portugal, France, Greece and Turkey while featuring 17 times for the U.S. Men’s National Team.

The 25-year-old’s latest stop will see him join AZ with fellow American Johannsson and former U.S. international Earnie Stewart, the club’s technical director. Altidore, who featured for the club from 2011-13, set the European goals record for an American with 31 goals in all competitions during his final season with the Dutch side.

What do you think of Adu’s move? Think he’ll catch on with AZ?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. There has been no news of Bradley “cutting” Adu like what happened at Blackpool… It’s likely they are encouraging him to tryout elsewhere since they can’t pay him that much. Dutch League has always been the best possible scenario for Adu.. All attacking and no apparent defensive responsibilities. I remember watching highlights of Altidore’s goals for AZ.. not to take anything away from him, but the defensive effort/tactics he saw there was Beer league compared to the EPL. Surely Adu can help unlock an Eredivisie defense.

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    • I wonder what happend no one seems to wanna sign.. perhaps Adu simply is not a top flight player. NASL would be a great spot for Freddy. No disrespect.

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  2. 2016 Copa America Starting 11:

    —————Altidore——————-

    Green——–Adu————Zelelam

    ———Cameron—Bradley———-

    FJ——-Besler—–Gonzo—–Yedlin

    —————–Howard—————–

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  3. it’s insane how young he still is. still very possible he can work things out and we see him at Russia. I hope we do since he did look quite impressive at the Gold Cup and I was surprised he didn’t get anymore looks after that.

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    • Agreed about age and seeing him get back to being a decent player….but I believe his usmnt days are over.

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  4. Come on Freddy!

    As someone who saw glimpses of your skills in the 2011 Gold Cup I’m still holding out some semblance of hope that you can get it together and play a part in the next WC cycle!

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  5. There are some rumors about Roy Beerens leaving to the Bundesliga. That would certainly leave a big hole in AZ’s attack they’d need to replace.

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  6. To be honest if Bob Bradley passed up on him I’m worried, really worried…lol……whether its because of Salary, fitness etc it doesnt matter……..Not a good sign

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  7. Adu has earned more comments and clicks than minutes since going to Benfica- he’s the Kim Kardashian of US Soccer… give it a rest… let the guy string together 2-3 solid, in rotation seasons before wasting anymore time talking about him… what about Feilhaber, Davies, Kamani, Nguyen, Jeffrey, Zizzo, Szetela, Renken and all the other “phenoms”?… maybe along with Americans Abroad, SBI can update us on which pub leagues all those starts of the future are playing in week in and week out

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      • Did Charlie Davies leave his talent in that car wreck?? What happened? One moment you are up and the next moment you are nowhere…..absolutely nowhere. He is a perfect example of how easy it is to lose your way in this game, Damn……..

      • If he was simply breathing, eating food with a tube and able to conjugate verbs would be a major win for him.

        He should have died.

        The fact that he is alive and playing soccer is no small miracle!

      • GW is certainly correct. I feel embarrassed at times that I was among those tracking his return to see if he could make South Africa. Ali Dia fail — that he made it back at all is amazing.

        Margin between greatness and mediocrity is so incredibly thin at this level. Think of the most talented guy you played with or against in high school etc. and he is almost certainly not playing soccer for a living right now, let alone at the elite/WC level.

        I remember seeing John Thorrington, who was in my high schoo league playing for Chadwick HS in SoCal– he signed for Man U shortly thereafter and after watching him I was convinced there was no way he wasn’t the best player alive (cut me some slack I was 17, although I promise you he was amazing.. .velcro between the ball and his feet… skipping trhough the defense with comical ease). Ended up having a credible but unremarkable career and did get a couple of caps for the USMNT.

        I bring it because it just goes to show that difference amongst top talent is razor thin and barely accomodates a single mistake, let along a mangled, horror-film car crash.

    • Isn’t Kamani with the Rapids, Jeffrey is with DC United, Zizzo is with Sporting KC, Nguyen with the Revs as I believe is Davies. They may not be lighting up the soccer world but many of them are solid contributors in the US Top league.
      Wouldn’t call that pub leagues.

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    • blokhin,

      I don’t think you can say Benny or any of those guys were “phenoms”.;exciting young players yes but that is not the same thing.

      Adu was the next Pele, the saviour of US soccer and judging by the posts here, some people still feel that way.

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  8. It’s just awesome news to even know Adu is on trials with teams, any team. Especially when his services are hovering around coach BB with Stabaek or striker AJ with Almaar. As an up and coming soccer nation we can afford to waste talent, ANY talent. Good news to start the week……..

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    • Yedlin picked up by AS Roma and Adu by Alkmaar is an awesome start………..up and coming friendly’s leading up to the gold cup and 2018 world cup are going to be interesting for US soccer

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  9. Adu, stop retarding your playing career. It’s already a short enough career so get your ego in check, buddy.

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  10. If AZ doesn’t work out, I feel like trying to drag him by the ear and make him go back to Turkey. It’s been BY FAR his best professional stop, and he led a team to promotion. I’m sure there are more than a few people in Turkish soccer circles who remember him and would give him a fair shoot.

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  11. ——-Johansson–Altidore
    Adu——–Zelalem———Green
    ——————Bradley
    Fabian——Brooks–Packwood—-Yedlin
    ———————Guzan

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  12. Time to flip the switch Freddy! Earn a call up with the younger group and reinvent your career. 2018 with Adu- Zelalem – Green creating chances will be fun to watch!

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  13. Hope it works out for him. He’s shown flashes of real quality throughout his career. The right environment could turn things around.

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  14. The fact that he was passed up by a Norwegian side coached by Bob Bradley of all people is telling of his chances of ever getting his career back on track.

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    • Pretty much what I was thinking. Bob was a fan, tried to work him back into the USMNT.

      If he didn’t cut it at Stabek, hard to see him making it with Alkmaar.

      Stinks because you’d see occasional flashes of how good he could have been.

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      • Well he was on a trial with BB and now he is on trial at AZ.

        Normally, had it worked out with Staebek he would have stayed there. So the assumption is it did not work out. That is too bad because, as far as I can tell no one has shown more faith in Freddy than BB.

        It’s nice that Earnie is at AZ but he is the equivalent of a general manager not the coach.

      • So what you are basically saying is AZ are a bunch of morons? 9 clubs back to back years… and still can’t get play with bob bradley so yes AZ picks him up?? GTFOH Bob most likely called up earnie and told him to give him a trial..its worked for Jozy and AJ…. Bob has always come out and said he believes in freddy hell we were all amazed he added him to the gold cup…

      • Al,

        What I am saying is it seems Adu is not going to play for BB. If he were he most likely wouldn’t be trialing at AZ.

        It could be the money or it could be that Freddy didn’t make the grade.

        This trial at AZ could be because of BB or it could be because Freddy knows Earnie Stewart.

        I don’t know and neither do you. We’ll see soon enough..

      • quote from Bob Bradley “I am the one who can get the most out of Adu” Nuff said. He’s going to AZ after training with Bradley and now going to show his gratitude just like he did at the Gold Cup…

      • he was training with Bob’s team, not on trial. That team has no money to buy anyone.

        It’s likely that Bob called him in to train before his trial.

      • Stephens went on trial with at least another club before coming back to play for Bradley. Give it some time. What’s most important is that Freddy gets a suitable and stable club for which to play…

      • Agreed; I pick on thr guy for LOOKING like he is really 45 yrs old…. But I really would like to see him turn his career around and have some (any) level success. Hopefully this is “rockbottom” with his personality/ego issues, he can turn it around. I am SURE his high salary has always played a part in him being cut/left unsigned.
        I hope he gets signed somewhere and does well.

    • What fact? You have no idea that Bob passed on him. My guess Bob told him that he should trial at other places as well.

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    • Could be that Bradley wasnt impressed or it could be that Adu was just training and wasn’t interested in playing for 100k.

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    • My guess is that if two teams expressed interested, Adu’s agent would recommend trialling at both. #1 to see if AZ is a good fit, and #2 to drive up negotiating leverage w/staebek or elsewhere) and publicity. I would say it’s pretty hard to say that anyone passed on Adu while the transfer window is open at this pint – if the window closes and Adu’s out of a team, than we can probably conclude that.

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      • I highly doubt he has ANY ‘leverage” left. Adu or his manager had to BEG to get him a Blackpool trial that the GM referred to from the very start as nothing more than for “training”. His value on the open market after being cut by MLS is between slim and none.
        He just needs to sign ANYWHERE and start to play in order to establish ANY good part of his reputation talent-wise. GET SIGNED and go from there.

    • The sense I got was Bradley was doing him a favor, letting him train and get fit before he trials for a few other clubs.

      Not that I think he deserves it, but I think Adu’a salary demands would be too high for Stabaek. Didn’t they have to crowd source money from fans to pay for the Galaxy player who transferred there?

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  15. I think Netherlands is a location that Adu could do well potentially, it’s not exactly known for defense. AZ is as good a spot any I suppose

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    • You know what, even if he means nothing for our national team (and I think we’ve moved on), I am hopeful he has success here, even if it is moderate.

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      • Well said Lorenzo. I really don’t view him as a USMNT pool player any more. He is way too far away. But time is slipping away from him badly– I was pretty convinced he was done as a professional (he may still be). For his own sake, I hope he finally finds something here that can at least prolong his career. Sounds like he has some habits he needs to change badly, but a good fit can be really helpful in this regard.

      • everyone said the same thing about Beasley in 2009. But if he begins to find his Gold Cup form, why not Adu, if we are taking guys like Wondo and Davis? I really dont understand this penchant for writing players off…

      • + 1 Thank you. This guys has enough talent and time to be a star. If he puts it together, he could be a force in Russia 2018…

      • Ahhhhh, you got to it before I did….!

        The dude looks like a “mini-Greg Oden”…meaning he has a facial features of a guy who is 5+ years older.

      • Here we go getting ahead of ourselves again. Freddy has zero track record of anything besides about 100 minutes of play in a single 1.5 game stretch in summer 2011. Nothing else whatsoever at the senior national team or club level. Beasley had things like “Champions League semi-finalist, led team in CL goals scored” among dozens of other things Freddy has never done or come close to doing since he left the youth setup.

        Let the kid find his way before we start calling him a WC guy. This is one of the reasons he got scrwed up in the first place.

      • I am a Freddy Adu fan and I was about to stage a serious comeback response to your write up then I saw; “Freddy has never done or come close to doing since he left the youth setup” ……….I realized I got nothing……hahaha, Damn you Diego’s Maradoughnuts, Damn you

      • Hahaha. Word bud .. We’re all about one keystroke in front of the other on topics like this

      • For the record, I slipped the Youth Setup comment in right before I hit “Post Comment”

      • Those 2 games in the 2011 Gold Cup continue to perplex me. Where did those come from? Everything else in his career says “not good enough”. Were they just luck, were they his one hot streak, or was that the real Freddy who never put the rest of it together. I don’t think we will ever know.
        There was one breakaway the US had where Freddy seemed to have several easy options to move the ball into attack, instead he hit this huge bending ball forward. I yelled “noooo” then it landed at the feet of a streaking Landon Donovan and I was forever perplexed, was that intentional or did he just get lucky. If I give him the benefit of the doubt, what happened to the rest of this guys career.

      • Jesse,

        Those two Gold Cup games were no mystery. Just take a close look at Fredinho’s playing record.

        Bob Bradley was no magician; unlike most people he just paid attention to what Freddy was actually doing and as soon as Adudinho got hot and there was an opportunity( the 2011 Gold Cup) Bob played him.

        For one of the few times in his career Adu played for the Senior team, in a serious tournament ( winning would get BB the Confed Cup and losing would get him fired ) when Freddy was in good club form with a reasonably long run of tough league games in Greece and Turkey behind him.

        The only other time was early on during his 2007-2008 Benfica stint when he was playing more or less regularly and he went on to have a nice run at the 2008 Olympics.

        One of the great BS myths about Freddy is that he can be garbage at the club level but still play well for the US. The truth is his best US performances for the Under – 23’s and the Senior team came after he had regular PT and did well for his clubs.

        If Adudinho could just get on the field and stay there for his club his professional life would be a lot simpler and he might be a real player instead of a punch line for jokes.

      • Nate,

        By 2009 DMB had two played in World Cups and probably had the best resume of any American player in the Champion’s league up to that point.

        Freddy would have a hard time coming anywhere near DMB’s resume even if you cut it off after 2009.

        You need to wait a while before you put those two in the same sentence if you are talking about playing accomplishments.

      • This is what just kills me about JK. The last time Adu played for the Nats at the Gold Cup, he was the best player we had. His reward? banishment. Im no Adu fanboy but there actually is a lot of talent there. JK SHOULD be working with him and trying to reach him, not sending him into oblivion.

        Bring him in again, lay it on the table… this is what you need to do to keep getting calls and then it’s up to him. JK seems to just plain not like him and that’s too bad. He is every bit as talented as Green

      • He is a lot older than Green. Bringing Adu in would violate everything Jurgen has said. Adu needs to find a club team and perform. That has nothing to do with JK. If Adu can’t play club soccer he can’t play national team soccer. It really is that simple.

      • Something tells me JK had more to worry about that taking a not-under-contract player under his wing in the past two years….like…this thing called the World Cup Quals and Finals?

      • I haven’t seen you play.

        You might be better than Green. But before JK can cap you you’ll have to at least become a regular on an MLS team.

        Let me know when you sign that contract and when your first game is cause I’m sure everyone here will let JK know what he is missing. The same thing, by the way, applies to Freddy.

  16. what happened to him?

    he had the talent at Benfica in 07. They were in the CL. They never played him and he went to France right and then Greece. Was it his ego or he didn’t wanna train or wanted to always party>?

    surely he’s good enough for MLS or even Norway or is he demanding too much $$$$

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    • The coach who bought Adu at Benfica was fired two months later, and then he had a string on Coaches that went the conservative route and didn’t show any confidence in Freddy.

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      • You can’t chalk it all up to that…. I mean, there was this other guy, I think his name was… oh what was it, they signed at the same time for Benfica and played under the same coaches… Oh! Angel Di Maria! That scrub who plays for Real Madrid and Argentina.

        There’s a lot more going on with freddy than a coach’s unfortunately timed firing.

      • Yes, he’s had issues at pretty much all 9 stops. At some point it becomes obvious that it’s not his managers or bad luck, it’s him. Maybe it’s an attitude problem, maybe it’s his training habits. Whatever it is, he’s clearly not impressing any of his managers on the training pitch. Too bad Verbeek isn’t at AZ anymore. If anyone can tough love some sense into that thick head, it’s him.

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