He can be considered the founder of a long tradition of failure in Europe: Rubio Rubin, Gedion Zelalem, Matt Polster, Josh Gatt, Emerson Hyndman, Bobby Wood, etc. True, no one flew as high as Freddy in the consciousness of the fans, nor sank so low in the pits of misfortune, but we can say Freddy set up the path that many others have followed.
Zelalem and Gatt underwent career-destroying - even career-ending - injuries. Failure in the usual sense of the word has connotations of not trying hard enough as well as not being good enough. In their cases, it's impossible to know if they were good enough.
Adu won more in MLS than did Matthäus , Djorkaeff, Henry , Drogba, Ibrahimovic or Rooney! That's an impressive list....
Not sure what the fvck any of that has to do with the conversation, but whatever. US players had long been failing in Europe, before Adu had arrived on scene. He had a solid run in MLS and put up solid per 90 numbers in Europe.
Failure is not succeeding. Whether it's due to personal failings or acts of God, it makes no difference. If you didn't succeed, you failed.
By that standard, your list of American failures in European soccer should begin with Miro Rys, who was killed in an auto accident in Germany in 1977, but calling someone a failure because they're dead is pretty harsh.
fyp - okay maybe I'm opening up a bit of a can of worms here but while not down putting the MLS Cup, that was the 2004 version of MLS cup where there were 10 teams - 8 of which went to the playoffs. I think DC were a bottom half team that gradually made it into the playoffs. Anyhoo, did Freddy play a big role in that team? I think he was pretty much a crowd-pleasing sub most of the time. You can kind of split Freddy's football career into two which were the early teenage years where he yes won the MLS cup, was a constant star in youth cups - hattricks in both the under 17 and under 20 world cups - goalazo-hattricks for that matter, and was scoring last minute winners for Benfica. Then there's the 2nd half of his career to loans to Monaco and Belononsene where his career just started to downward spiral from there on.
this will be always interesting to me. I remember back then, when I first logged into BS. I reckon at least 2/3rds of us, including me, were starstruck with the kid. We were so sure this was going to be our first big time player, and it was a big deal. maybe we were just young with the evaluation process and didnt fully understand it. It was one hell of a learning experience for us. I remember cursing Bruce to high heavens for not bringing him on faster. I couldnt have been more wrong. What an interesting case study he is. Hes along with Renken, Agbossomounde, Gil, Zelalem, Pelosi. I know the later two had to deal with severe injury issues, but still, a good reminder that no matter how sure you are of their success in their youth, they could still Szetela or Shea it up.
There’s an alternate universe where he goes to Inter and ends up having a decent career as a reasonable pro in Serie A and is one of our best players ever. Now maybe he would be running out for Sampdoria or somebody.
Damn, seems like a few years ago he was scoring goals for Benfica. His autobiography/ biography is going to be fascinating.
Freddy Adu scored exactly 2 goals for Benfica then went silent. he quickly got loaned out to a number of teams and did very little. I don't want to say that he was a bust, because he did a lot of great things and had some really good games and some incredible goals. Take a look at his highlight reel on youtube and you will see for yourself. Unlike Donovan and Pulisic, whose goals are usually from very short range or are "soft" Freddy can hit the corners from distance with pace.
Donovan and Pulisic just hugely overrated. Especially Donovan. Too bad he scored way more long distance goals than Adu goals period. Still Freddy is the GOAT!!
In that alternate world do US naturalization laws change so that he could have still become a US citizen if he went to Inter at 13 with only a green card?
To be fair, in that universe, after a debut Champions League hat trick at 17, Inter would have loaned him to 13 MLS teams over the next 11 years, and he would have been naturalized.
Okay maybe a little off-topic, but hey gotta keep the Freddy-thread alive somehow and there is a (rather sucky) connection here. Talking about Vacuum cleaners and football, anyone remembers Thomas Brolin from USA 94? I remember I used to love watching him play for Parma alongside Stoichkov and especially Sweden, where he led them to the semifinals of both the Euro cup and the World Cup. Anyway, turns out he retired from football at only the age of 28 after struggling with his fitness and form, I guess kinda like Adu and went on to become a vacuum cleaner salesman! Brolin burner out early, but his career wasn't too shabby at the end of the day... https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/7342174/leeds-tomas-brolin-quit-football-vacuum-cleaner/
Had a great career until Philly and Hackworth traded his ass to Brazil partially becuase of the Hooka photo. After that, alllllll downhill. Doesn't make sense.
eh, dunno if I'd call it "great" to be honest, especially considering the potential he showed in the teenage years. However, I agree that that was literally the beginning of the end for Freddy.