Adu (by the numbers)

1. Bad comparison - Messi is short in stature but explosive speed and great low center of gravity power combined with unbelievable balance.

2. I agree that his teammates have something to do with his problems with the Union, but he didn't stand out as being this excellent quality player, he sort of just blended in with the mediocrity. If he were the special player that some of the delusional people on this board think he is, he would have done more.

3. I agree Marfan is more suited for the #8 role. But look, the coaches wanted more than anyone for Adu to be our playmaker, he just is not a complete player and that is why they gave the keys to Marfan - because he is a better, more complete player.

4. I agree that Freddy's best role would be as a #10 and not out wide. But he can't win a header to save his life, and he is a poor defender while Marfan is much more well rounded. That is why they put him on the wing. Check out this advanced comparison of the two players statistically:

http://www.phillysoccerpage.net/2012/09/06/adu-vs-farfan/

 

Yankeeroyal?

 

Really doesn't matter what anyone here thinks. Until Adu can step it up and play well enough for a club to want him, his national team career will be in the crapper. I don't think even his fans could reasonably construct an argument that he has any sort of decent club career at this point in time. Until that happens, he's on the outside looking in. I think the kid has talent and I'd be very happy to see him get it together. We could really use the pluses of Freddy Adu if he could at least make some progress toward getting rid of the minuses. But until he does, he's not getting a shot on the US. Simple as that.

And he was available to any takers. His team said he wasn't in their plans with the international window open, basically come and get him. No one came. I think this window should put to rest this idea Freddy has suitors all over the world. Freddy needs to make changes if he wants to have a viable professional soccer career at all, nevermind the national team. Or you can always just stick with the argument that every professional coach in the world is a moron.

 

Teams don't want him because of the contract he's on. Without the contract it's a completely different story. I don't think anybody can reasonably argue with that.

 

I agree with Eddie being a great comparison who should be a shining example for Freddy. Eddie was also a young star that everyone expected great things from. He had early success in MLS and went to Europe where he had a rough go, ended up with some lower division success, on a team with Freddy coincidentally enough, but similarly ended up with little else going on in Europe and little interest. Both players came back to MLS. Freddy complained a lot in the media, produced little, got himself left out of the team for mysterious reasons and now he's sitting on the outside of both club and country with little to show for it all. Eddie went in, worked hard, produced for his club and was rewarded with a run with the national team, where he came in and produced and keeps getting chances. Adu had every opportunity to do the same.

 

Sure, some lower division team that can't afford Freddy would love to have him. If Freddy would work for free, I'm sure plenty of low level squads would love a guy like him. But his wages are what 500K or so? If some decent team in the big leagues wanted him, they could swing that. You think any of our guys in England, Italy, Germany make less than that? Arguing that some team that only pays guys 50K a year would love to have him is just silly. Guys that play on teams that pay their players 50K a year don't employ international caliber players.

 

Johnson was 8 months without a team before Seattle, at age 28. So Adu still has every opportunity to do the same.

 

I've accepted that there's something wrong with Freddy, but I don't think it's a lack of skill. He's very good, but he can't seem to become a professional the way I think this league or any needs him to be. Like someone said earlier, he's just not worth the money.

 

Agree Freddy can still make things right and get it together and I hope he does. We could use him I just see the national team as something that happens after that conversion takes place, not before.

 

Regarding Adu's salary issues:

1. Philadelphia brought him in, agreed to the designated player salary, gave him a run out for a season and a half with mixed results. The salary was not a concern for them when they got him, so we are left with campfire tales as to why Freddy did not work out.

2. Other teams, apparently have expressed interest in Freddy, but the Union has said they are not interested in considering offers such as this:
http://www.phillysoccerpage.net/201...r-released-massive-match-fixing-scandal-more/
Following the news that FC Dallas were negotiating with Toronto to secure Eric Hassli, a rumor appeared on Twitter on Saturday that Toronto were looking to let go of Hassli in order to make space for Freddy Adu. This was followed by a post from the Brotherly Game late on Saturday night that eventually got around to saying a “team official” told TBG “the two sides had progressed in their preliminary negotiations on moving Adu out of Philadelphia. The official went so far as to say that it’s possible that a trade could occur relatively soon.”
Philly.com’s Jonathan Tannenwald sent out a series of tweets on Sunday morning that said a source told him“there is no truth to the reports of a potential deal between the Union and Toronto FC to trade Adu.” He further tweeted, “There have been offers for Adu from multiple MLS teams but I am told that Adu and his agent have turned them all down.” These deals were contingent on the Union “eating a big chunk” of Adu’s salary. He added, “Am told that the Union also got offers from teams in foreign countries and Adu’s side turned them down,” continuing, “Foreign team offers came from countries Adu did not want to go to. I don’t know what countries.”
3. Freddy is the 21st highest paid player in MLS and also is considered a DP.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...publishes-latest-round-of-salary-figures.html
21. Freddy Adu, Philadelphia Union: $400,000.00 / $519,000.00
He is also, by far, the highest paid player on the Union, who have the 15th highest salary hit in the MLS.
15. Philadelphia Union: $2,861,006.08 / $3,356,310.25 (8th East, 33 points)
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...publishes-latest-round-of-salary-figures.html
4. Which begs a couple of questions.
Why does Philly not want him training in preseason with their team, particularly given their early commitment to him?
Why is it that no one is willing to pick up his salary?
Clearly, he is not worth the $$$, but it remains a surprise that this somehow cannot be worked out.

 

Fully agree w/ the latter.

I'm not sure folks are arguing the former at all. Maybe some are, I don't know. I know that I, personally, point to El Pibe, Riquelme, etc. as examples of players who were clearly amazing but weren't able to garner the trust of managers until the second half of their 20s...it's simply a lot to ask of a manager to trust someone in roles like theirs until they're pretty damn proven in them (but, catch-22, how can they prove themselves in that role w/o a shot?).

My point - and the point I *think* most others are making - is that if players that good (whose careers are so incredibly superior to Freddy's that any comparison along career lines is utterly laughable) can't earn the trust of their managers to funnel offenses through them, why in the *heck* should we expect them to trust mere Freddy Adu?

 

This actually has a lot more to do with the way tactics and formations have changed over the last 10-15 years and how guys who play the classic number 10 role have been all but phased out, or at least the number 10 as it applies to guys like Riquelme. There simply isn't a need for them when you can have a guy playing box to box who may not have quite the same effect on the final ball, but who will actually play defense within the team, which is what is needed with today's very athleticly-minded (yes, even in Europe...hell even at Barca) game.

 

A bit disingenuous, since six of those eight haven't been pros all that long. (Adu has had seven years since his first cap to accumulate those 'better performances'. Shea, eg, hasn't had 30 months.)

The two guys who are somewhat more comparable, in terms of tenure? I am not (at this point) a huge Feilhaber enthusiast for the NT. His club career has been, in its own way, almost as shambloic as Freddy Adu's has. But if you think Freddy has been a more important contributor to the success of the senior Nats than Benny, I don't know what to say besides re-watch the Algeria match. He comes in 2/3rds of the way through, makes an immediate and continuing impact, and the US ends up winning the game and getting first place in a World Cup group instead of not advancing at all. It takes a lot of assists in losing Gold Cup finals before those scales are balanced.

Kljestan I'll give you. Wearing a US Nats shirt is the one place Adu's looked like a better player than Sascha. Not that that should be the final arbiter of gets called in and who doesn't, but it is a point.

 

1) It's possible that *Nowak* brought him in (when the guy that brings you in leaves, the next guy doesn't always rate you as much). Then gave him a run...but, per usual, played out of his natural position (which, for various reasons, some mentioned by Dark Knight, and others mentioned by me in the past, might be a sensible choice). The results were predictably mixed.

My argument at the time was that the Union were crazy to offer him a DP salary. The only thing that made sense to me was that Nowak and those past DCU folks thought Freddy was finally ready to be given a chance to run the show from the center; they saw his talent, they liked him off the field too, and thought, "He wasn't ready at DCU, but now he is". I'm not saying they'd have been right to think that or to make him think he'd get his shot. I'm merely saying that unless you *do* think that, why in the heck would you bring him in on a DP contract?

My conclusion, and I could be wrong, is that they were simply stupid.

My other argument, btw, was that when the playoffs were out of reach, why not give him a string of games in his natural role then? Nothing to lose at that point. Yes, it might not work out for all the reasons people have noted. But you know what? It might also actually work. You pay this guy crazy money. See if you can get a return on it (better player for you or easier to move after being in the shop window) when he's played in his natural role.

3) His salary is scheduled to escalate. Some reports claim up to $800k a year. For up to 2 years.

4) My understanding is that he and Hack have competing visions, and Hack finally had enough of that. Imho, Freddy got desperate, seeing his USMNT chances going to pot. JK told him he needed to dominate and be the focal point of his team's offense. Freddy thinks he can't do this unless the Union finally do what he thinks Piotr promised: give him a run of games pulling the strings from the center. He's not quiet about what he wants. Hack tells us that Freddy's "stature in the locker room", among the young guys, is an issue. This suggests, to me, that Hack simply had enough of Freddy pushing his own agenda and not conforming to Hack's more balanced - as opposed to Freddy-centric - approach on offense. Just my theory... (Remember that it wasn't *all* about wages w/ the Union; Hack also - like all managers - wanted him to be more compliant and accepting og whatever role Hack wanted for him.)

Why is no one willing to pick up his salary? Because he's not worth it.

He *could* be worth it, in theory, if he was more consistent. And he *could* be more consistent, in theory, if finally played in his natural role. That's more risk than teams want to take for a player on those wages.

Why hasn't a deal been worked out w/ the Union picking up part of the tab? Seems to me like both Freddy and the Union are waiting for better deals than they've gotten. Maybe a couple have been satisfactory to one side or the other, but none so far has satisfied both parties (and the buying/borrowing team too). We know Freddy has had offers from multiple teams in MLS and around the world (Korea was mentioned a month ago, thankfully Mexico is now being mentioned). We know he's turned them down so far. We also know that the Union have refused to let him try out w/ other MLS sides. Who knows what's going on besides the banal observation I offered: they're both waiting for a better deal to come along.

--------

Btw, I know many of us - me, included - often point to his wages as being the reason teams dump him. 9 teams/9 years and all of that. It's actually only been 2 teams that clearly dumped him because of wages. It's possible that the breakdown is 2/3/3/1: 2 teams would have kept him on lower wages (Aris/Union), 3 teams didn't dump Freddy at all (he chose to leave DCU, RSL, Rize), 3 teams simply didn't rate him (Benfica, Monaco, Belem), and his 9th team is to be determined. So really, it's not 9 teams that have deemed him not good enough to play for them. It's 3 teams. And it's not 9 teams that explicitly dumped him for wages. It's 2 teams. With the rest, he did the dumping, w/ the jury still out on his 9th team.

 

Yes.

Even if Freddy was perceived to be a dedicated worker bee (great work ethic, no drinking/hookahs, running nonstop on the field), and even if he could fix some of his on-the-field shortcomings, it would still be difficult for him to find the situation he wants. For the exact reasons you mentioned. (Michael Cox has written about this very thing on a couple occasions.)

We know this is the case in the U.S. and in Europe. What about Latin American leagues like Mexico?

 

Fwiw, just to be clear, when I specifically noted "pithy" comments from you, it was a compliment.

(I meant you added a lot of value w/o having to use a million words like I usually do.)

 

You never answered my question.

If Adu is such a baller as you say - how come no one wanted him in the last transfer window?

 

This is a great point. I almost went into this a little in my longer post earlier.

One of the problems that are caused by Freddy's lack of flexibility is that teams have learned how to make a true #10 ineffective. I actually believe that this is one of the things that doomed us in th '06 cycle. Arena tried to build the team around Donovan as a true #10: the attacking midfielder on the point of the diamond behind two forwards. Unfortunately, by that time, teams had learned that they could shut down all but the very best #10s by simply having two box-to-box midfielders that hounded that guy within an inch of his life. Donovan was rejuvinated when Bradley moved him to the wing, and he became a prototypical central winger (http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/12/03/introducing-the-central-winger/). Duece has also really blossomed in this role.

This is the same tactic that coaches have tried to use with Adu, but his lack of speed and fitness (and possibly attitude, although one can't really be sure about this) have made him only marginally effective.

EDIT: Meant to quote the following in this post as well:

You may have a point. I certainly hope that Freddy continues to grow and develop. However he could still suffer tactically (as outlined above).

 

Seriously dude. This has been discussed ad nauseum. You're not helping your case. Just leave it.

 

Philly decided he did not fit into their plans around September of 2012.

How is it that it can be determined that this decision was because of his wages?

Again, they were the team that hired him with his salary, offered him the salary.
The first thought that Adu and the Union might have issues (non salary issues) were here:

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/08/23/sports/doc5035b2ffc891b783142582.txt

Hackworth said he and Adu had a discussion on the bus ride home from the nation’s capital.

“Freddy and I have been talking for a long time, to each other about different things. In this context, I try to make it very clear to all the players, but specifically to Freddy, what the rules and expectations are for him,” Hackworth said. “We talked on the bus, just me and him, on the way home. He said, ‘Hey, I could’ve contributed longer.’ I said, ‘You know what? I need you to contribute the way you did today, every single game.’ He said, ‘Fair enough.’ I said, ‘Freddy, if you do that, we will win more games,’ and I think he understands that.

“I’m still trying to push Freddy in the right ways to be an effective player for us. There are so many expectations on Freddy that have nothing to do with whether a team does well. I’m trying to get Freddy, specifically, to understand that it’s not about Freddy Adu at all.

“It’s about the Philadelphia Union, it’s about this team right now."

Then this:

http://www.brotherlygame.com/2012/1...whistle-coach-decision-Philadelphia-union-MLS
, it was his statement about a player on the team that drew the most interest out of the email.
"We made the decision to leave Freddy out of the 18," Hackworth wrote, "and to rest Sheanon [Williams] in hopes that he'll be recovered enough to play Saturday against New York."
It was already known that Adu was left out due to a coach's decision against Sporting Kansas City. However, Hackworth's choice to not only mention it, but also place it next to a comment about why Williams didn't play was intriguing to read.
Just like the second half of the statement, the first provided the team's decision, but it noticeably lacked the reasoning behind it. Placed up against the second half of the sentence, which filled in why Michael Lahoud was pressed into service at left back versus Kansas City, the Adu comment was incredibly limited in the scope of the overall email's intent to inform.
Transparency was something thought to be slowly moving throughout the organization at multiple levels, but the withholding of reasons for why the team's highest paid player, and who may be the best playmaker, did not participate in a game leaves a confused end result for those that follow or cover the team

this:
://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110/major-league-soccer/2013/01/23/3690508/keith-hickey-philadelphia-the-latest-burned-bridge-on-freddy


The night before Philadelphia's July 21 clash last season against its biggest rival, the New York Red Bulls, Adu was spotted out late at a bar. He was not included in the team's match day squad, and team officials would only refer to his omission as "an internal matter."

"He thinks he's God's gift to soccer," a former U.S. youth international told Goal.com on condition of anonymity.

On Monday, Hackworth referenced "things that need to be kept within the locker room."

Just before fielding questions about Adu, Hackworth announced to the assembled media that Brian Carroll, Adu's teammate on the 2004 D.C. United team that won the MLS Cup, would be the new team captain.

"Brian has certainly earned the opportunity through his actions and his character, and the way he exemplified a fantastic leader last year," Hackworth said. "Things happened in our locker room, which obviously people aren't privy to, and we want to keep it that way, but Brian was a very important leader in our locker room last year."

Carroll is a soft-spoken, hard-working, selfless kind of player, a loyal team guy, averse to self-promotion, the kind of player who lets his work on the field do the talking for him. Though his captaincy is certainly warranted, Hackworth's comments about Carroll, in such close proximity in his words about Adu, seemed like more than just encouraging words in praise of a veteran leader. One inference is obvious: While Freddy may have all that talent, he's not a team player like Brian is.

"He might have wanted a different role, you'll have to ask him, but he was given plenty of opportunities to play, and play a significant role for us, and be the player that we expected him to be when we signed him," Hackworth said. "That didn't happen.

"He didn't meet the very lofty expectations that were placed on him."

That's kind of always been the thing about Freddy Adu

.And ultimately this:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/01/17/hackworth-adu-wont-open-camp-union-next-week
“No,” Union head coach John Hackworth told reporters when asked if Adu will open camp next week. “There is [a decision that has to be made]. Freddy and I talked. We talk regularly. So until we get into camp I want to defer that one and address it at that time.”
Adu publicly bemoaned his status with the club last August after playing for just eight minutes during a regular season game against Real Salt Lake and being pulled from a game against D.C. United in the 68th minute the week before, prompting Hackworth to later say that he and his star player needed to “have a heart-to-heart”conversation about his future.
.“He’s a young player that has a ton of potential,” Hackworth said at the time. “Everyone knows that. Nobody knows that more than I do. And nobody believes in him as much as I do. But the reality is he has to focus and he has to change some things in order for him to reach that full potential. And that’s what this club needs. We don’t want any part of a player that doesn’t understand all of those demands.”

This is not to say that Freddy might not have a role with the Union at a lower salary, however, to attribute his problems with Philadelphia to this salary, is inappropriate, at best, revisionist history at worst.

 

Then why do you even get on the internet?

 

Fwiw, this is similar to what teams in Turkey ended up doing w/ Freddy.

Fair or not, applicable or not, for whatever reason, that picture of a menacing Ollie standing over a frightened-looking Landon on the ground, and memories of a physical Jeremies marking a guy who truly was strong on the ball, Claudio Reyna, out of the game, made me picture some German bully treating Freddy like a steamroller meeting a rag doll (when Freddy doesn't avoid him). Maybe JK has this same image in his mind at times (during those fleeting moments when he does, for a split second, think of Freddy Adu)...