Photo by ISIPhotos.com
American midfielder Freddy Adu's long and winding path through Europe has taken him to Turkey.
According to Richard Motzkin, his agent, Adu is set to move to Turkish second division club Rizespor on loan. Portuguese club Benfica, which bought Adu from Real Salt Lake in 2007, still owns Adu's contract.
The move to Turkey is the latest in a saga that has seen the former youth national team star and one-time U.S. national team midfielder go from Portugal to France to Greece and now to Turkey after trials in Denmark and Germany failed to produce moves.
What do you think of this development? Disappointed to see Adu going to a Turkish second division club? Wondering when, if ever, he'll make it back to MLS?
Share your thoughts below.
I laugh at most of you who have only had a passing interest in Freddy and never kept up and spout how much he sucks etc… The fact is Freddy does not suck, he is a pretty decent player, the issue has been and always will be 2 things… The amount of money he earns from Benefica on a weekly basis and his attitude towards training and being responsible… He was plenty good enough to see playing time with Aris this year but he fell out with Cuper (who is now gone) by being late all the time and being unprofessional… Also anyone that things that Rizespor is a poor team knows very little about European football… They were in the Turkish first division for 25+ years until 2007-2008 and currently sit 3rd in their league and eager to earn promotion to the same league Michael Bradley was so close to joining…
Yet through all this… Jozy Altidore continues to rot on the Villareal bench and little to no impact in his loan stints as well… At least Freddy scored some goals and created some goals last Spring…
Okay Birthers…
I don’t know. With all that money he’s made he probably has a really nice couch.
Hood Rich is right… we wont be posting about Freddy’s missed mortgage payments in 20 years…because he’ll likely not have any.
I imagine he’s tasted the flavor of humble pie, but it hasn’t kept him from making the best financial decisions for his future.
If you were guaranteed 700-800k Euros (1+ M USD) for the next two years (remaining duration on Benfica contract), would you turn it down so you could earn 100-200k? How long would it take the average nimrod to make 1+ M USD ??? 10 – 15 years?
How’s that for common sense folks? You are targeting Adu because he did not meet your expectations of a US Soccer savior? What about Landycakes? Landycakes is playing MLS ball because he’s doing whats best for his interests, not yours. Same applies to Freddy; he’s doing whats best for him.
So economically, if you were in his shoes, you would not make the same decision?
Ok I can’t help myself from posting on a Freddy thread we should all be embarrassed – I know I am.
If Freddy finds his inner fear of end of the Benfica contract and helps Rizespor get promoted, good for him.
But reality is yeah Freddy is a Turkish 2nd division-quality player, not in contention for USMNT.
And re MLS, Freddy is paid better in Turkey than he would be in MLS, so of course he stays overseas.
At this point, I am not sure how much leverage Adu has against Benfica on his destination. But I hope the best for him. He was our most promising young player 4 years ago and now he is nearly washed up. I’m not giving up on him, not until he is almost 30. However, he really needs to improve. If he doesn’t make it here, it’s certainly time to come home.
I got to agree with Matt. Stop with the Adu coverage.
I didn’t think he was a good player when at United, but given his age I thought he might develop. He hasn’t. He is one of those players that peaked at 17 and that was it, done, end of story. Its only his name that continues to get him these ridiculous tryouts with low level Euro team.
I also question why anyone would really think he would have any impact in MLS. The League has moved on. SBI needs to also. Enough already with Freddy.
hmmm, he is an american abroad who is transferring. Even Mike Grella would get this article, so shut up your face. Don’t read if you want to claim bull snuff, it ain’t ives, its you.
The same old Adu hate on this forum.lol Those of you who keep ranting over Adu, do yourself a favor, don’t post and makes this a 100 page discussion,.. it just proves you DO CARE.:)
I’m sorry for all you Adu haters, but to this day, I will still take Adu over half of the bums we have been taking to the bench recently. I find it funny when folks argue that he completely sucks, yet every game I watched him play in Europe, he was better than just ok. Pure fact. The only time he didn’t do so well, was in Bele… and that was do to playing time. So where are the facts about how much he sucks?
Someone said he sucked at the Gold cup and in Greece, yet he scored in the little time he was there. I would like to see what none sucky Adu is capable of then.
Good move for Adu. The important thing is to get playing time. MLS should be the next move.
Turkey is a decent league, it’s true, but notice this says “second division”.
In two more years we will be getting updates on how Adu for his softball team Eric Byrnes.
(that will make sense to baseball fans)
COME HOME FREDDY!
Rizespor is a solid team that was in the Super League (D1) for most of the last decade. They are more of a defensive/solid organization style team and don’t have a lot of attacking flair which is probably why they want Adu.
The top eight teams in the league (including Rizespor) are roughly equal at this point and there are no clear favorites for promotion at this point.
Good points all around guys, thanks. To Ives’ point, if Motzkin came on recently, you can’t blame him so much. But I still believe ANY agent has a role to play.
Thanks for the reply, Ives. I always hope for the best for Adu. It’s just so hard to comprehend this “european adventure”.
I love players like Adu, Preston Zimmerman, Lee Nguyen, etc who refuse to accept the fact that they won’t “make” it abroad and don’t just go back home and get back to basics. Just swallow your pride.
+1
Landon is really, really good and his head on straight. He has always taken direction from others well and is very coachable.
Freddy, not so much.
I wouldn’t be blaming the agent here.
cuuuuz its HIS site and he can do watever the hell he wants to do with it. Create your own if u dnt want Adu postings on it then don’t put any on yours, simple as that
Good luck Freddy! Turkey is a really good league, despite the fact that its not really on the radar here.
It’s not Motzkin’s fault that one client has talent and the other is over hyped and bouncing from club to club. Who knows, maybe next fall Freddy can get a tryout with Hollywood United.
Call him up Bob! 😉
Yeah, he’ll be playing in the Uzbekistan 5th division soon as long as he “GETS PAID!!!!!”
Come home to MLS and play some f***in soccer Freddy.
people lets all start a rumor.
did you hear freddy adu is gonna play for the Cosmos on a pay as you play contract. eh? spread the word
Hah, Greece followed by wandering around Europe without a club followed by the Turkish second division… I seem to remember some people were bashing Bob Bradley last year for not calling Adu into the pre-WC camp, where are they now?
Why does everybody assume he wasn’t good to go anywhere else but the Turkish 2nd division? Maybe they were the only team that were willing to pay the highest loan fee? Maybe Ingostadt weren’t willing to pay what Aris were, and Rizespor were willing to take the risk in hopes of more $ upon promotion to the Turkish 1st div.
He’s probably making more than 99% of the readers out there so if you were in his shoes you would do the same thing. Take the money since soccer career has a limited span.
+1
Feel bad for the kid. He has always had very good technical ability but the other aspects of his game have not developed consistently enough. Hope he comes home over the summer and finds his form. Nose to the grind stone Freddy, Nose to the grindstone.
What can Motzkin do?
He got Freddy signed to Benfica in the first place. Pretty damn good. That’s the victory right there.
Benfica still owns the contract and still has to get as much money as possible for Adu on a loan.
If Rizespor gave them 150 bucks for him, then that’s the highest bidder and good luck.
What’s clear is that there won’t be another Benfica-like payday for Freddy. That’s done.
Now that Freddy’s been “found out” in Europe, he might as well come back to MLS and play for $150K or whatever.
Can anyone tell me why Ives has devoted an entire post to the one whose name we dare not utter?
Good point, but I can’t see any manager investing money in him, even if it’s reasonably low. I wouldn’t want him.
I believe his agent, Richard Motzkin, is also Donovan’s agent. How can the agent who has helped manage Donovan to such success, manage Adu’s career into the ground?
(SBI-Motzkin hasn’t always been Adu’s agent. As far as I know he got on board last spring.)
thanks Joe for the thoughtful analysis. I agree with you.
Maybe Adu is uncomfortable in Europe. Landon Donovan struggled with playing abroad too. I’d like to see him try MLS again where he still has lots of fans, but hope he does well in Turkey.
look i know that the site has a responsibility to report about American players abroad and to report things that readers care about, i get all that but at some point all adu coverage should cease and only restart when he’s relevant again. every couple of months i feel like the same story repeats itself just with a different club name. to quote mugatu : “I FEEL LIKE I’M TAKING CRAZY PILLS”
Ives, if you ever wanted to write a book, “The Freddy Adu Story” I’m sure would be fascinating.
From how he ended up in America, to his MLS career, and the way players and coaches reacted to him. His trials with overseas clubs that never panned out, the eventual sale to Benfica and the clubs he’s been to since.
He’s owned by a club that has no interest in him, yet has no interest in selling him. The club doesn’t care if he plays or not, or if he develops.
It really is interesting.
I probably shouldn’t even post this. I’m giving somebody a good idea.
This is hilarious to me. This is that whole you can lead a horse to water thing. He should have made a move earlier when his contract is up, he is going to be in for a rude shock when he joins the list of millions of unemployed Americans.
the problem is that he is getting paid a lot of $$$ from Jan to July on his Benfica contract. No MLS team is going to pay that, for what they get. In July maybe we see him come back as the article suggests.
Any where is better than his couch
I think this club could be the one for young freddy lol. finally gonna settle down after his ramblin ways.
I agree. This actually seems to be a good move. I lack a deep knowledge of the Turkish leagues,but hopefully he can get time on the field. This should give him the opportunity to impress and get promoted with the team possibly. I believe they The Turkish Super League teams play in UEFA Cup.
he would be fine here. he just needs strong foundation and a stable team.
Yep. He could always get a job with Berlitz.
He was good enough to start and make an impact in MLS at 17 and 18 years old. He played well in USNT friendlies in Europe in 2009. There is no way that Freddy has regressed so much in the last year or two that he cannot at least make the bench for an MLS team at this point. My take is that he doesn’t have to be a star right away in MLS. I’m no expert, but I can’t imagine that Freddy is so bad that he couldn’t contribute something to an MLS team (whether in training, off the bench, or a started). I have no clue what Freddy would be willing to work for in terms of $ but there is no way that any reasonable agent would advise Freddy that he could expect DP money in MLS either.
MLS is a good league, but should we start listing guys who have made MLS rosters who turned out to be absolutely awful who did not have the experience that Freddy has had over the past six years?
freddy a-who?
Little dude is going to be quite the ploygot when he comes back next summer.
I don’t think that this is sad. I feel that it’s a good move as long as he’s playing. Also… as much as he has traveled and not stayed firmly with one club, there’s also something to say about the fact that his spirit hasn’t completely disappeared. There’s a saying about life experiences that goes… if it doesn’t break you, it’ll make you stronger.
So being an optimist, let’s hope he gets on the pitch, improves his game, regains his inner confidence and returns to the MLS even stronger.
He needs to come to MLS SOOOO BAD. If he would come to MLS now, be a star in 5 years, then make a move back to Europe if he needs to.
EA Sports didn’t include the Greek league this year because they didn’t know what rating to give Adu.
I think we’re all frustrated about this situation – witness my post below. But, this was a nice post, Jake. Good to keep things in perspective. Freddy Adu is a human being and I think the reason we all care so much and post critical things is that…
… we actually care about him as a player and most want him to succeed. But, we also want to see a mature player, who takes responsibility for himself and his career.
I’ll second your sentiment and say ‘Good luck. I hope he plays and fares well, too.”