When Freddy Adu talks about his football, the feeling of deep regret and ruefulness over how a career once tipped to ascent to a level parallel with that of the legendary Pele turned out so bad is palpable.
For those who watched him at the 2003 FIFA under-17 tournament he participated in with the US, if there ever was anyone who could match Pele’s record, then it definitely was the US-born player of Ghanaian descent.
So good he was that Pele himself could not resist but bestow on him the next big star crown.
But as it turned out, Freddy’s career was a contrast to what was expected. Freddy had what could best be described as a nomadic career that saw him play for over 10 clubs on different continents in desperate attempts to find a footballing home.
When Freddy Adu looks back, he accepts that his football career was a shadow of what was expected and that it was much more his decisions that landed him on the bad side of history than anything else.
Fred Addu concedes responsibility for various aspects of his footballing life that culminated in the disappointing career he had. One such decision, Freddy tells CBS, was his decision to leave Portuguese side Benfica after just one season.
Freddy Adu, in 2007, was being courted by French giants AS Monaco and sensing that he could get opportunities there, left Benfica for the French side.
With the benefit of hindsight, Fred Adu believes that he should not have made the move as it became the tipping point of the end of his career.
“The one decision that I made that I would have done differently is leaving Benfica after the first year that I was there and going on loan at Monaco. That was the one decision that started the snowball of me having to go from team to team on loan. It’s because I wasn’t patient enough to stay at Benfica.
On the flip side of that, a guy like Di Maria who was with me at Benfica decided to stay. A new coach came in and played him, he balls out and ends up at Real Madrid. At Monaco, there was a power struggle between the coach and the president. The president wanted me really bad and the coach didn’t think I was ready I guess. I didn’t play a lot and after that, everything snowballed. I don’t blame anybody for that decision because It was my decision,” he said.
Freddy Adu also recognized that his failure to stay grounded and focus on the things that could shape his career was a major reason for his failed career.
“I would have said put all the distractions aside and focus on your career. That’s one thing I don’t think I did enough of when I was younger. I would go in, have the training and that was that. I was getting into places that a teenager should not be getting into. There were just little kinds of stuff that I was enjoying instead of focusing on the important things. When I look back, I wish I had someone that was telling me to stay straight. Sometimes, having the talent alone is not enough, you gotta work your ass off to maximize that talent,” he said.
Aside Benfica and Monaco, Freddy Adu also played for DC United, Real Salt Lake, and Bahia among others.
