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.
Freddy is actually 32 years old & on the decline.
Why do I get the feeling that the people ripping on Adu are the same people that were yelling for him to get a chance a few years back ?
Ummm because they are.
He is not the first American to go for the money and not get playing time in Europe. I bet if you looked hard enough you could find a few on the national team now 😉 Maybe they are on better teams, but Americans face an uphill climb everytime they chose the Europe route for a variety of reasons.
To have success for the USA, we need support for a home league. Come on back Freddie, the money isn’t great, but you are young and maybe MLS can finally start drawing some fans with your name.
It’s getting to the point where I can see this kid retiring in a couple of years. I know he’s still young and has alot of ability, yada yada. But this is the same story wherever he goes – think about it, of all the clubs he’s played for:
DC United
Real Salt Lake
SL Benfica
AS Monaco
Os Belenenses
He has never excelled for a long stretch or put together a good season. He’s had good spurts, has shown some flashes of brilliance. But his club career overall has been a disappointment. I wonder how much longer he can deal with these setbacks.
Jozy has made an impact, both at the senior international level (dominant in Concacaf, goal against spain), and at the club level (starter on an EPL team). The fact that he isn’t lighting it up yet doesn’t take away from the fact that he is playing well in a top flight league, and is still highly touted within his club. Jozy is still improving and playing.
Freddy has made no impact at the senior level (struggled against Haiti) and absolutely no impact at the club level.
People say to move to a smaller club, but they don’t get much smaller than Belenenses. MLS is arguable as good as Belenenses.
Maybe he should go to USL
Would anyone care about Adu if MLS hadn’t overhyped the kid as the American Pele?
Bells and whistles.
It’s time for him to take a cut in wages and earn his paycheck.
Well said, Ives.
Don’t know where you’re going with this.
Koreans (and I live here so I should know a bit about the subject) generally have a very solid training in fundamentals. The whole country is under the influence of Guus Hiddink’s Dutch philosophy.
Tell a pro Korean to sprint 50 yards as fast as he can, and hit the upper far post from 20 yards from a 90 degree angle with his weak foot and I almost guarantee he can do it. And smile.
Freddy would probably just look at him and say…”Whatchyou talkin’ bout Coach?” (If you’re under 30 you probably won’t get the reference, sorry).
If you want to play the race issue… the more likely problem is that he’s in competition with other “African” players. Who probably trains better, a player who has turned to football because he’s from a country where those are the only people who can make a living, or Freddy Adu?
While there is clearly a bias against most things US around the world it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see Freddy’s issues. There are also hundreds of kids in his boat. Hot shot youth prospects who struggle, and it’s easy to trot out excuses like yours. Yeah, it’s harder to play a abroad, for various reasons. No doubt. However, excuse making like yours is born of weakness…not strength. Freddy has issues as a player. Agaisnt adults he needs work. Not hard to see…unless you are fanboy or excuse maker.
Jose is playing. For all of the “supposed” excuses he gets on the field.
If poor Freddy feels put upon he can always come home.
I mostly agree, but I get a little tired with fans that are always telling athletes to eliminate certain activities, as if that in and of itself will make the kid better.
e.g. “Less tweeting.”
Honestly, is the kid supposed to train every waking hour? Is he Ivan Drago? He’s not allowed to write 140 characters a few times a day? I get a little tired of fans pointing out activities of athletes and saying “That’s why you are failing.”
(SBI-I don’t think anybody is saying that Adu’s Tweeting is why he is failing. The Twitter issue with Adu is that the tone of his Tweets is a very delusional one and only makes things look worse as his career continues to slide. Updates about how the coaches really like him and how it’s only a matter of time sounded okay at first, but have long since begun to ring hollow. It boils down to the Twitter account putting even more pressure on him in my opinion. I would compare it to someone who was in a bad break-up Tweeting about it and sharing all the sad and disappointing aspects of it with the world when he probably shouldn’t.
Adu should look at what Beasley and Holden do with their Tweets. They can update fans on basic stuff and activities, but the whole emotional aspect of Adu’s tweets is where the whole thing becomes a bit depressing. And that’s something I’ve heard from people who know Adu very well.)
The problem with this is that multiple teams and coaches saw and understood his talent…it was the mental part that concerned them. From a talent standpoint there was never a doubt LD could be very successfull as a pro. With Freddy…maybe. We shall see.
Does anybody know the details of his contract with Benefica? In particular, how many years left and at what salary?
Could Freddy request the termination or restructuring of his contract? Maybe that is the big decision he is grappling with?
(SBI-If I were a betting man I would bet Benfica has offered him that option. The club knows it’s not going to sell him for any real transfer and his big salary makes him a tough sell as a loan option for most teams. The question becomes whether Adu is ready to leave some serious money on the table for a chance at playing time, and perhaps in his mind, a run at the 2010 World Cup squad.)
Adu indeed is at a crossroads. He has been milking the youth world championships for years and now has to prove he is worth the paycheck. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Benefica let him go on free transfer. He can continue to chase the dollar in Europe or come home to MLS for some playing time. He is still young, but not getting younger.
Adu needs to put the stupid blackberry away and WORK. I know being a Twit is THE thing right now, but all this twattering can’t be helping him.
While I don’t know the line up of Belenenses, another issue is that you can only have a fixed amount of non EU members on the field at once.
Because it’s Portugal, you can assume there are a number of talented Brazilians and probably Africans that he has to compete with.
As a prodigy, he probably never had to learn all the ‘raise up your sleeves and get on with it’ traits you need to succeed in top flight soccer.
That soda pop contract he got at 14 or whatever age that was has probably turned out to be a curse.
It basically sent a message that said you don’t really have to work hard to get somewhere.
It just seems like he’s way too soft to handle being a professional in Europe.
He should just go back to MLS or do the softie route– look for clubs where other Yanks are playing and beg to get a trial. Then he can have a nice bunk mate he feels comfortable with.
Like Tiger, maybe Freddie just isn’t as sharp or savvy as one would hope.
He’s young enough to still have a good career, but he needs to make a 180 from the path he’s taking– fast.
Wish him the best of luck, though.
Despite all my criticism, I still think he has a special ability to cut through a defense if given the right circumstances.
My worthless advice:
Less tweeting, less weight lifting, more humble pie eating.
Very nice assesment….
I totally agree; I think Freddy just needs to suck it up, take a pay cut, and find a less glamorous club to be playing for. I would say he go to everybody’s favorite Swedish club, Hammarby. They know how Charlie Davies took a little while to develop and they stuck with him until he finally got the goals. It all started with that hat-trick against Gais. Hammarby were patient with Davies, I think they could do the same for Freddy.
Don’t confuse playing well in a few games with being “every bit as good” as players like Pato. A string of coaches have agreed that Freddy Adu cannot play at high levels of the professional game whereas Pato has scored in nearly half of the matches he has played in the Serie A. A comparison between the two is ridiculous. Pato is 20 and a burgeoning international superstar. Freddy is 20 (maybe) and is nearly already washed up.
He needs to find a place to play, period. That and suspend his twitter account. The idea that he is not a superstar is not a big deal. But not playing? Not EVER playing ANYwhere? For his own sake, he needs to find a place to play and forget everything else.
And it’s a shame, by the way.
First, he is STILL very young for a male pro athlete. If he goes where the money’s good, I fear he’d struggle for playing-time and continue to not get a chance to hone his skills. However, if he goes where the money’s not as good, he’d likely get playing time, a chance to develop his skills, and THEN the chance at big money AND playing time. To go the latter route properly, he’d have to pick no more than 3 really good and experienced advisors, and go to a place that will commit to both play him and help him develop.
Neither option is free of pitfalls, but I believe the latter, considering he’s still young, provides a clearer blueprint for a successful career … of course, it leads to the first question he must consider: Does he still truly desire a professional soccer playing career (with the travel, time away from home, physical punishment, the politics, and the public scrutiny, does he still believe the pros outweigh those cons)?
poor training habits? attitude? these adjectives hint of both european xenophobia (specifically targeted towards americnas) and/or borderline racism… I mean a 20 year old korean kid? he’s just awesome right? but a 19 year old behometh of a striker like jozy… bad attitude, bad work habits… looks awful. It’s absurd how the american fan is infulence by nonsensical european rational
What an asinine comment from Adu#1
Yeah, because having average speed is a plus in Track & Field – Freddy hardly has wheels….. and I guess you’ve never run a mile race so you have no idea how much elbowing goes on… and running professionally takes far more dedication than being a soccer player, it’s well publicized that Adu’s work ethic is hardly that of an over-achiever.
Sorry, this is a US fan shortcoming of epic proportions. Maybe it’s lack of understanding. The players you mentioned have soccer brains clearly superior to Jose or Freddy. They already have th ebasci mental tools with regards to spacing, positioning, making runs, off the ball moveemnt that US kids so dearly lack, and have to learn later in life. While there is quality in both of our players a rudimentary evaluation of their play clearly shows the shortcomings. We like looking at tht ehighlights of our players, and convienently, willingly for get everything else it takes ot be a successfull prized pro – or it’s more possible we just don’t understand enough as a culture yet, as we are still very new to the game, and menatlly we clearly lag. That’s not a shot at anyone. That is the reality.
Take away the Freddy flashes and there is a player who can’t do/doesn’t know how to do many basic things. It is what it is. As they learn they will get better, problem is that they will be leanring what those other youngsters have known since their early teens.
I hate to say that he shouldn’t have left MLS before accomplishing something, because it’s really tough not to leave for Europe if given the opportunity. But has there ever been a player who has accomplished so little in the MLS and made a move to a decent league in Europe?
Just to add a little perspective. I remember a ways back we had this kid who went to Germany as a 16 yo and didnt get hardly any PT he came back to MLS and people thought he might be a washout. What was his name? Landon Donnovan I think? Whatever happened to that guy? Well History is full of kids who didnt make it in Europe by 20 and were just useless after that. Too bad Freddy, you could have been good.
All these teams can’t be wrong. If the kid had it, he would be playing. He would be much better off in MLS
Cause he sucks. Can’t blame the coaches in 5 teams anymore now can we?
I would build my coed rec team around him… no problem.
He could come to the NPSL and get some minutes….
The thing about that tournament was that the team was built around Freddy, which was why he played so well. He had wingers who stretched the field with their skill and pace. All of Adu’s goals against Poland came from assists from either Rogers or Zizzo. He had defensive midfielders who could be gritty on the defensive side but combined well with him offensively. He had a target forward whose movement made life tough for the centerbacks and drew attention away from Adu. When Adu gets to a team that’s willing to build itself around him, he’ll start to become the player he truly can be. The problem is no team wants to build itself around him because he’s playing just average. Teams barely want to buy him because of the price tag on this kid; He’s in a real pickle. I say he takes a pay cut and finds a lower level team that will play him.
It just baffles me that players like Pato are worth so much more and get the chances when Adu was every bit as good as him in the u20 WC in 07’… Bradley is darn near a star, Pato, Vella, Hoffer…the list is long…the only two that seem to be making little to no impact are Adu and Jozy… seems that it might be an attitude thing… poor training habits etc…
The sad thing is Adu… was doing fine for Benefica early on…what is to say he cant do that if given a run of games?
Why don’t you get it? The soccer world is full of kids that did well at youth level and ended up having disappointing careers. He’s one of thousands. I suppose there’s still plenty of time to turn things around, but you get my point – there is nothing surprising or mysterious about this.
Good.
Adu doesn’t need to be a superstar. In all reality the USA doesn’t need him… ever. Sure, if he was able to measure up to the high standards we set for him it would be great… but all signs point to him just needed to figure out how to play as a professional. Looks like he is going to have to fight for playing time as a professional just like any other kid out of college would be…
Danny Szelta bombed and has come back to MLS (albeit with my hometown team so no complaints!!).
This is the best news for Freddy he could receive. He wasn’t going to get playing time there and was rotting. All the lot claiming his career is over, yadda yadda forget how young he is. A move to a smaller league where he can get his confidence up and get the playing time he needs at his age. It is still hard for Americans to head over to Europe and get real playing time.
Northern Europe has treated our boys right over the years, let’s hope he can move somewhere in Denmark or Sweden.
Keep your head up high Freddy, this could very well save your World Cup chances!!
NASL! NASL!
It would definitely be on par with the signing of Pele for the league….
…..
freddy just needs to find a place to play. He may have to take less in salary but he needs to start playing and I hope he realizes that.
And for those who say it’s not fair to question his age. Well, the only time Freddy has looked brilliant has been in age restricted competition. So I think the speculation at least is fair.
I hope he really is 20 and there is still time to develop him. Because if he’s really 22 or 23 it might be too late.
i don’t get it! he played so well in the tournament in canada with jozy summer of ’07. it seems everyone else from that tournament has gone on to something positive except for him. has anyone fizzled the way he has?
i hope things work out for him
Good, he was wasting his time at that club!
What development? This is the (hi)story of Freddy’s career.
come back to MLS, Freddy.
This kid is running out of options…$150k is all an MLS team would pay him, he might double that in Denmark but may not play…at least he made some money while he could
Can he afford to move to another club? Will MLS pay him the big money he thinks he deserves and is accustomed to? Who in MLS would take him? How about the Galaxy? Maybe Beckham could nurture home to respectability.
Adu’s progress and that of the new DC United stadium. Coincidence?
this is the best news for young Freddy. Hopefully he can secure a move north. Just find PT!
Freddy who?
He might really be able to light it up in the USL!
He’s so young he can turn it around, but my goodness his professional career has been a borderline disaster thus far.
he should go try another sport. one in which being physical isn’t a requirement. say, track and field?