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Adu trial with AZ Alkmaar ends

Freddy Adu Bahia (Getty Images)

By DAN KARELL

Less than a week after joining AZ Alkmaar on a trial basis, Freddy Adu’s time at the club has come to a close.

AZ head coach Marco Van Basten has seen enough of Freddy Adu in his six-day trial to decide against giving the 25-year-old midfielder a contract, the club announced on Sunday. Adu played 45 minutes in AZ’s 4-1 friendly victory against local amateur side AFC ’34 last Wednesday.

The trial was Adu’s third of 2014, following short trials with Blackpool in February and Stabaek in June. Adu last played for EC Bahia in Brazil’s second division, though he was released last December following the end of the season.

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What do you think of this news? Disappointed to see Adu fail to earn a contract?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. No way Adu will work for $150k. That is what the top college players signing with MLS before the draft get. At least Adu is a proven commodity over the college unknowns, so $200k is realistic as the floor for negotiating his way back into MLS.

    Reply
    • he might not, but he should. EJ did it and he ended up making a comeback and getting a big contract (only to start failing again!). i don’t know i would agree that Adu is a “proven commodity” though. either way, making at least some money and playing is better than being out of contract.

      Reply
    • No, he’s only been proven to wash out of whatever team he’s with, alienating everyone in the process.
      No one is going to give him a shot in MLS for anything above 100K.
      Either he accepts that, or his career is over.
      I’d love to see him swallow his pride, sign for little money, and try to climb the ladder again. He got so much bad advice over the course of his career, I’m still rooting for him.

      Reply
  2. My favorite Wynalda quote when he was commentating a DCU match years ago, “Freddy Adu looks so bad he might actually be 13.”

    Reply
  3. i feel for Adu. the kid was subjected to completely unrealistic expectations by the U.S. soccer community at a very young age, and when he didn’t live up to those expectations, well his path kind of speaks for itself. hopefully, the US soccer community has become smarter about how to handle rising talents in the youth system.

    Reply
  4. It’s not too late I see a spot on the national team…US beach soccer team or US indoor team possibly US futsal team

    Reply
  5. After a year or so of unemployment he will suck it up and sign with the Atlanta Silverbacks… Wynalda will put him back on course. Then Klinsmann will controversially not select him for the 2018 WC roster

    Or he will just retire and do something else with his life

    Reply
  6. Despite this long list of “Adu rejected by ______” articles, I still can’t feel sorry for the guy:

    1) Lots of reports that he just doesn’t train hard enough. That’ll earn no sympathy from me.

    2) He’s still made more money in his shaky, sloppy professional career than most of us will make in a lifetime. If his goal was to be a great soccer player, then he failed miserably. If his goal was to make a load of money and travel the world, then he’s been a huge success.

    Reply
    • It makes you wonder a little if he is wise with his money, i.e. saves most of his salary and may not have to get another job to pay bills later. Or if he blows most of it the way he reportedly blows off training. If that’s the case, he may have quite a crisis when he meets reality after his playing days are done.

      Reply
      • Two quotes from Geroge Best that Freddy ought to think about

        “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars, the rest I just squandered.”

        “When I’m gone people will forget all the rubbish and all that will be remembered is the football. ”

        Too bad Freddy will probably not be remembered

      • Two more great quotes* from George Best worth considering:

        “Like Freddy Adu, I played for almost 20 clubs over 10 years. Unlike Freddy Adu, before that I squeezed in a wildly successful decade of playing at one of the world’s top clubs.”

        “I let alcoholism kill me before I reached 60-years old. It’s too bad I didn’t focus more on the football.”
        __________
        * Not that he said them, but he could have.

  7. I understand he has talent but I could never truly support him he never learned how to be a professional and doesn’t deserve to be respected as a player.

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  8. There’s an open spot on my men’s league team with your name on it Fresdy, come on home. I’ll even give you my spot as the attacking mid.

    Reply
  9. I personally feel there should be no more Adu stories until he actually signs with a club. Or he announces his retirement.

    Reply
    • Already been done as a movie. Didn’t quite work, trust me.

      This is even worse, it’s about a guy who is already old and somehow gets to looking older than the old man he was supposed to become in that soda commercial.

      Except he doesn’t actually accomplish anything the original old man did other than squandering his credibility faster somehow.

      I am beginning to think Freddy drank from the wrong Grail. But that was a different, better movie.

      Reply
  10. Is there no one moderating the comments on SBI? There are comments above accusing Adu of being a drug addict and a rapist. Come on…

    Reply
    • Deno’s comment is actually pretty funny. Adu dated JoJo when she was like 15. If Adu is older than he says he is, which seems probably imo, than its quite possible he committed statutory rape.

      Reply
    • Saying “It wouldn’t suprise me if…[whatever]” doesn’t qualify as an accusation.

      To be honest, it wouldn’t shock me either. Doesn’t mean I believe it to be true, or that I am reporting it as fact.

      Also who cares?

      Reply
  11. Perhaps Adu should retire from pro soccer, go to college, get a degree and work. There is something fundamentally off about his attempts at being a professional soccer player—time to move on.

    Reply
    • The San Antonio Scorpions are already on record on offering him a contract. He refused to even consider it. I hope he rethinks his situation because he’s not getting into a top-tier league where he’s going to make a decent amount of money anymore, and his name recognition means jack squat now. Actually, his name recognition is probably a negative for him. We’ll see if this kid really does care about playing soccer now.

      Reply
      • That might have been when the Scorpions were still looking for another CAM to be an alternative to Barrera. They picked one up: Castillo — who scored two goals (one a PK) in his first game with the team this past weekend. That ship has sailed now for Adu with San Antonio.

    • Seeing as he’s mostly a name living of borrowed glory and unmerited hype, he’d fit in great on the Cosmos.

      Reply
  12. this young man has the attitude of a billionaire who wont give up like clippers owner but is that good or bad for him, I guess bad.
    he will end up in ligamx getting a big check and a hot mexican chick but if was him, i would go for mls in LA2, nycfc for less money, cosmos then go to mls, orlando or chicago.
    just prove yourself in Mlssoccer and offers will come for u.
    imagine having adu, ronaldinho, donovan, keane in galaxy in 2015 or adu, kaka and robinho.
    this kid needs love and attention asap before he kills his career.

    Reply
      • beachbum,

        I don’t have the link but I distinctly remember Donovan , back in 2009- 2010, in response to a question about Freddy vis a vis a role with the USMNT, rather wearily pointing out that what Freddy needed more than anything was to actually play games. I see no reason why Landon’s opinion would have changed in the interim. And aside from his brief spell at Philly, Fredinho is still not playing much..

        I would add to that by pointing out that Adu’s signature best run of games for the US, the 2008 Olympics and the 2011 Gold Cup, both came after a run of regular playing time, the first with Benfica and the second with Rizepor in Turkey.

        This idea that Adu can do well for the US after spending a few months in nightclubs and on the couch is just BS.

        As for the Bruce (and add Jimmy Conrad, the first Matt Besler) here’s a link. It just goes to show you that JK was not the only manager who ever wanted to test a player’s reaction to suffering and pain :

        http://grantland.com/the-triangle/for-some-usmnt-players-the-work-to-reach-the-world-cup-has-just-begun/

        “In January 2006, Freddy Adu was 16 years old and training with the United States senior team for the first time. Head coach Bruce Arena called the starlet into the team’s January camp, a three-week training stint that played a massive role in determining who would make the roster for the upcoming summer’s World Cup in Germany. Adu’s youth and inexperience made him a long shot to earn a spot, but he had a chance to impress.
        The talented teen did exactly the opposite.
        On one of the first days, the coaching staff set up a course around three fields and told the players to run as far as they could in 20 minutes. It was a test of fitness, obviously, but also one of commitment. How much pain would individual players put themselves through? Landon Donovan and Frankie Hejduk, always the two most fit men in the player pool, easily outpaced their teammates. The rest of the group, a mixture of players with virtually assured spots and others who were desperate to impress Arena and his staff, extended in a long line around the green pathway.
        And then there was Adu. He was dead last, even behind assistant coaches Glenn Myernick and Curt Onalfo, who were jogging.
        “I was so pissed at him. I remember thinking, Just f++king put it in and you get to go to the biggest tournament in the world. You’ll remember it forever,” Jimmy Conrad, a former national teamer and current host on KICKTV who participated in the run, told me over the phone last week. “He was a guy who thought he was a shoo-in but didn’t put the work in. Thankfully, he got left off because that would have been disrespectful to guys who were working hard.”

      • If that account is correct, remember that Myernick is dead from a heart attack and Onalfo was a cancer survivor at the time.

      • GW thats a lot of BS especially when he praised Adu..(do did dempsey and bradley) during the Gold Cup. If though he got cut, AZ manager did say that the assist is gave was top notch… he’s still better than Wondo any day..

      • Mr. 416,

        Did you actually read the article?
        It doesn’t sound like you did.

        Why don’t you contact Conrad? He seems like an accessible sort.

    • The kid has gotten “love” and “attention” for way too long. The problem is he treats it as his due, and he’s not exactly coachable either.

      Bob Bradley was his biggest fan, and if he didn’t make it with Bob at Staebek, something is very amiss.

      Reply
      • His age isn’t as relevant in this discussion, as much as chuckleheads like to joke about it.
        It’s all about his ability, his fitness, and his attitude. He’s always had the ability. His fitness can improve. His attitude, ego, sense of entitlement… that seems to be the problem.

      • …in the face of far more compelling explanations that don’t require investigating allegedly falsified birth certificates, etc. Anyone at any age training like Adu would be received like Adu.

  13. He is either asking for way too much money or has completely deteriorated as a player for Bob Bradley and Earnie Stewart to pass on him. Too bad.

    Reply
  14. This just ruined my week……I really thought this was it. This is a huge disappointment. If you cant make it in the Netherlands then its a wrap. We don’t know the details but not even a bench player? I’m really starting to lose hope in his abilities……fast!!!

    Reply
    • You really thought an underachieving Adu who hasn’t played for a club in 7 months was going to impress a guy like van Basten?
      I think Adu needs to look at other lines of work. I’d be very surprised if he ever gets his career up and running again, unless he’s willing to take a huge pay cut and work hard to earn playing time at a small club.

      Reply
    • No one is questioning his age just his ability to add something to their team at his current abilities and wage expectations!

      Reply
      • He was supposedly 8 when he arrived in the U.S.. At 14 years old (supposedly), he was 5 ft 8 in and 140lbs. Several years later at 20?, he was still 5 ft 8 in and 145 lbs. Hmm

      • Mr. 3,

        Adu was born in Ghana in 1989.

        Guess what the average height of a Ghanaian male in Ghana was in 1989?

        It was 169.5 cm.

  15. What a waste of a talented player. When he was with the Union he could have been a huge difference maker but the team had no one who was capable of receiving his fantastic service.

    Reply
    • All of you people watch that one YouTube video and declare that he was great there. Union fans know he was a disappointment. He didn’t play well at all most games. He was not worth the money, or the attitude.

      Reply
      • funny. i remember Adu playing in canada. u20s i believe. he was consistently the best player on the field. argentina, i believe, were double teaming him regularly.

      • That was such a good tournament. That gave us all so much hope for Adu. He was a beast. Along with Jozy and Bradley. I remember thinking those three plus Zizzo, Ferrari, Zimmerman, Szetela, etc were going to pan out.

      • What YouTube video? It was painfully obvious to neutrals that he played well enough at Philly but the Philly strikers were AWFUL. Couldn’t finish to save their lives.

        Again, never worth $600,000 but his performances if he was making $100k-$150k would have been received well enough. For as much as he was making, he should have had a much bigger impact but he wasn’t awful. Add on his reportedly poor training habits mixed with that high salary and non-allstar performance and you could see the writing was on the wall.

      • Union fan here, and I have to echo what Pace said. Yeah, he had some flashes and a few times players missed his crosses. But he never played defense, and clearly there were some locker room issues going on because he sat out a few games due to “coach’s decision” and what have you. Part of the reason the other players were never in position for his crosses was because when he got the ball, most of the time he tried about 7 step-overs too many and then lost the ball. No one moved when he had the ball because they didn’t expect him to pass it. He was in no way worth his salary, and if you’ve followed him on twitter you can see that he still has a huge ego and I’ve got to think that has an impact in the locker room (guessing, but still).

      • totally agree he never played defense, tried to be too fancy at times, and wasn’t a great locker room guy. i am not trying to debate that. the kid wasn’t worth $600,000 a year.

        but despite that, with some better finishing from his teammates, he finishes with double digit assists. in ’10/’11 he finished with 2 goals in 11 appearances and ’11/’12 he finished with 8 goals and 3 assists in 24 appearances.

  16. Has Freddy regressed or something. Freddy in 2010 would have gotten the contract easily or is he asking for too much money. This is a shame he’s suppose to be an attacking player and he couldn’t get a contract in a league that does a lot of attacking a very little defending.

    Reply
    • In Europe a 25 year old is considered a veteran. Also none of us know what kind of money Adu is asking for.or what his competition for a roster spot looks like.

      AZ are a selling club.

      It is possible Adu is good enough to play for them but is he that much better than a 20 year old who might be a LOT cheaper this year and have a much bigger upside in terms of resale value a year or two down the road?.

      All professional clubs everywhere are businesses, not farm teams for the USMNT.

      You might say Adu is getting caught up in a numbers game, i.e salary, age, potential re sale value. Think if him as a used car or a piece of meat.

      Reply
      • Its more likely Adu is not good enough to be on AZ. Selling club or what a good player is a good player and Adu is not that

      • GW, that’s a very interesting point: Adu may be too inexperienced to be viewed as a veteran while also being too old to be seen as a prospect/investment.

      • His salary would automatically be high because of his status as a non-EU player. That’s the rule in the Dutch league. So, that is one obstacle he faces. He has to be better than others by a large enough margin to justify the higher cost.

    • Freddy in 2010 was on loan to some Greek league team. I don’t think he’s ever been good enough to play at AZ. Personally I can’t understand why this much ink is spilled over a Stabek castoff. Next please!

      Reply
      • I’m very concerned since all of his training stints are at clubs with obvious connections to the USMNT and nobody else seems to want to bring him in.

      • He had a solitary defense-splitting ball against Panama in the semi-finals of the Gold Cup 3 years ago. That, effectively, is his resume as a senior-level professional. And the sole source of hope that keeps the fire burning around here, apparently.

      • I think MLS would be a great place for him to hit the reset button on his career a la Eddie Johnson. However, he’s going to have to drop his salary demands.

      • Acutally he was an important part of the Union starting 11. The split was because of salary. The new coach John Hackworth thought he wasn’t worth the $$ and he also thought Kleberson was a better option. Thats the same coach that traded Jack Mac so you have an idea of how delusional he is. But i think Adu should go to Orlando. With KaKa and Robinho he has a chance to learn something

      • Nice try. He was benched because he wasn’t working in training. Players resented him and it was very clear he was not really welcome in the locker room. Talent has never been his issue, lack of hubris and professionalism have. One can argue whether it’s his fault or not, but reality is reality. He thinks he’s owed a spot on his terms, not the coach/manager’s. My man needs to have a bit of a come to Jesus moment with his work ethic. He could retire right now and be set financially, he just needs to figure out if he wants it enough.

      • It is clear that you don’t know what the word hubris means. Nice try though, your comment was almost relevant.

      • PD pretty much has the club’s version of events. Adu claims it was all about getting him to take a paycut though.

      • If you look at how the ‘other” players played around him they had no right to resent him in ANYWAY… Pajoy is by far the worst MLS player I haven ever seen and is by himself responsible for ruining at least 8 assist by Adu alone, followed by an not ready Jack Mac, and the rest of the scrub patrol. Funny how they made the playoffs both years he was there…and now look at them….

      • I had read some of the same ego issues and not mixing well with the team. Also, while he did manage to play initially, he eventually wasn’t even in the starting 11 and rode the pine.

      • No, thank you. He can go learn somewhere else. At this rate, he’ll have either 3 or 147 more trials by Christmas.

        Besides, Adu would learn what from Robinho, how to score 5 times per season for a few years, and then move to another club? Adu seems sufficiently competent in that department.

        OC doesn’t need or want him.

      • He wasn’t terrible with the Union. If there were better finishers, he would have had some assists.

      • that’s not true. as others have pointed out, he actually played well and would have had double digit assists with better finishing. either way, his $600,000/year salary was the biggest issue.

        i’d be willing to bet that he could find an MLS team if he dropped his demands to $100,000.

      • The contract is a big issue cause he sucks. If he was good it wouldn’t be an issue. He was bleh at philly. Nothing special. Adu didn’t come close to double digit assist. You guys gotta get off the Adu bandwagon. Every Adu story ends in a good joke. He should call Bob bradley back up and beg to join his squad in Norway

      • calm it down. the fact was he didn’t play all that bad at Philly but his contract was too big, the coach wasn’t a fan, and his attitude (reportedly) was not great. but he certainly didn’t “suck.” but like i said, certainly not worth $600,000.

        and because i think that does not make me an Adu homer. SBI even made that point when he left Philly and during that season.

        and like EA said, he already trialed with Bob’s team. did you miss that???

        foooo – i’ll see if i can find the article, but there is a quote from Bob saying after the trial they weren’t interested. didn’t really give a specific reason as to why.

      • Not this article — prior reporting. When his trial at Staebek ended, the team did say they weren’t interested…that he had shown some progress in his trial, but that he didn’t show enough to earn a contract.

      • I’m guessing you’re not serious but in case you are Adu wouldn’t even crack the bench with Valeri, Nagbe, Zakuani and Wallace already slotted into creative attacking roles.

      • I think he meant as a fan. Which is still absurd…. I’d imagine he is in Pele’s box at the Maracana right now. Portland?!? Sheesh.

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