Adu to Benfica: $550,000/yr salary for 5 years (+housing,car and goal bonuses)

I completely agree with your logic, but a team with more than a few MLS players did beat your national team...

There's always so much MLS hating that I don't get why MLS fans start hating on other leagues as soon as they get the chance. Just because you've never watched a team doesn't mean they suck (remember, that's the same reason ignorant Europeans use to denigrate MLS). We all know Benfica, Sporting and Porto have had good results in Europe-- no one here should doubt their quality. Most of us have no idea about the smaller Portuguese teams-- it wouldn't surprise me if MLS teams were competitive with them but it's not like we have much basis to compare them at all.

 

^^ true, portuguese league has teams there with 4 cl trophies in total and some more euro trophies...and many top players r developed there...deco , figo , c ronaldo, paulo sausa, rui, caravolho, pepe, ect...cmon its one of the better leagues in developing young prodigies

 

I'm curious if his salary will be in Euros or USD, currently the dollar is very weak against the Euro and his Euro salary is only 400,000 a year. If the $ ever gets stronger then he'll be making less then what he is making now.

 

There really is nothing much beyond friendlies. But, since that's all we have, here goes:
Sporting Lisbon came to the USA a few years ago, and lost 4-1 to San Jose [now Houston], lost 2-1 to New England
Boavista came to North America that year and lost 3-1 to the Metrostars.
Going the other direction, Kansas City and Chicago visited Portugal.
KC won over Academica 1-0 and over Uniao de Leiria 1-0.
Chicago lost to Academica 0-2.
This year Benfica went to Toronto FC and a desultory 0-0 tie ensued.

What to say? Logically, all we can say is that friendlies between MLS sides and the Portuguese First Division provide no evidence for the claim of Portuguese superiority.

 

How about all of those Benfica victoris over the Metros?

FORCA SLB ES ENORME!!!

 

where did the other players come from?

derlei, paulo ferriera, valente etc came from uniao leiria before they had amazing seasons there and were purchased

carvalho, deco, jorge andrade, tiago etc also came from the likes of braga etc where they were first team players.

some clubs may be crap ..2/3 at most but the rest are pretty good opposition, you rarely see any blowouts in this league at all.

 

Yes, a country of 10 million where 2 million are forieghners...yah im sure we can fill every single stadium to capacity..if we had a population of england for example the stradiums would be full every game/

 

I think this is a good move, and here's why:

1. It's important that Freddy make the move to Europe now. There is absolutely no comparison in terms of development between playing for a team like Benfica versus Real Salt Lake. Indeed MLS has made progress in recent years, but let's not kid ourselves either. From a player development standpoint, this was a no brainer. And, rather than wait for a much tougher EPL work visa to come through, it's better to go through Portugal first and gain a foothold in Europe for the next move.

2. Aside from playing in the Spanish league, playing in the Portuguese league is ideal for a player like Freddy. There is much more of a focus on skill and creativity in the Spanish and Portuguese leagues than the EPL, Bundesliga or Serie A. Thus it's more likely that Freddy's talents will not only be better nurtured at Benfica than, say, a 2nd level EPL or Bundesliga team, but they would also be valued more. The latter factor is important given Freddy seems to play better with a more tolerant coach (Rongen) than a heavy-handed one (Nowak).

3. Benfica is an excellent team with a rich history in European football. Frankly, only the top level teams of La Liga, EPL, Bundesliga and Serie A can claim greater prestige. I would much rather see Freddy land at Benfica than, say, Fulham. Whereas Fulham would be happy to avoid relegation and maybe get into a UEFA tournament, Benfica is usually always playing in these tournaments. Not only that, but they are always battling Porto and Sporting for the league title. The value of these high stakes matches cannot be overstated.

4. Benfica has a strong financial incentive to sell Adu to richer Euro clubs. Indeed Benfica has a rich history that is on par with most European clubs. However, their team and league simply cannot compete on a financial level with the bigger clubs. Those are the financial realities of the modern game, especially in Europe. Thus, like many of the tradition rich Argentinian and Brazilian teams, part of their financial formula is predicated on profitable player transfers. To wit, turning a $2 million investment on a Freddy Adu into a profitable transfer 2-3 years down the line. Thus player development is central to their club's survival. In comparison to Fulham or Aston Villa which does not need profitable player transfers to make a profit (EPL revenue guarantees that) and thus need not showcase younger players at the expense of an older, perhaps more in-form player. This means Adu and Benfica will surely be on the same page in terms of selling his pass to a bigger club 2-3 years from now.

 

pre season bs and more friendly results, im sure ur gonna bring up mls beating chelsea next as well.

look at sportings roster for those matches and see where over half those players are now.

thats right some arnt even professionals any more.

Look at the other clubs rosters, they played reserve team players and youths who no one even in portugal ever heard of, most never played for those clubs again.

mls isnt being underrated its ppl thinking the portuguese league outside of the big 3 is crap.

which is ridiculous considering year after year they have very good players poached away by them from top european leagues.

 

Superdave makes me laugh. SOCCER!!!!! SCORE!!!!!! LANDYCAKES!!!!! SCORE!!!!! MLS!!!!!

LoL

Welcome to the big leagues Freddy!!!
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/photo?s...d1.portugal_soccer_benfica_adu_xsg101&prov=ap

 

It's easy to notice how little you know about Portugal, the Portuguese league and European football in general.

First of all, Portugal is a small country, only 10-11 million people. Secondly, all games are aired on tv, which makes scheduling hard because they all play at different times... this makes people stay at home because there are games at Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays... all at night. Benfica games are sold out almost everytime when away (most stadiums are small). At home, on the big games, there are always huge humber.

It is beyond ridiculous to compare Portugal to Scotland, Scotland is behind so many countries, you wouldn't believe and look... they have great passion and many people watching the games... that doesn't make their football or teams any better.Portugal is just behind Germany in the Uefa country rankings for the leagues, in 6th place! Ahead of Holland. This is the only ranking that matters. Benfica is ranked 19th in Europe while Fc Porto, who won the league the last two seasons (my team ) is among the top 10.

You obviously don't know much if anything about what you're talking about, you probably just googled that info up to say something about this subject.

I also think it's a bit silly to throw these friendlies between European teams and American teams to make the MLS look good. Well, you forget that those games are not appealing for the players, they are either in pre-season or at the very end of the season, either time not in the best physical or mental condition.

Do you know that in the last 4 years a Portuguese team has:

won the Champions League 2004 - Porto
won the Uefa Cup 2003 - Porto
made the Uefa Cup final 2005- Sporting

Along the way, the best teams in England were beaten by Portuguese teams.

Again, you simply have no idea about what you're talking about and only someone ignorant about football in general would base himself on some article he randomly finds over the internet to support any opinion.

The level of a league is what you see on the pitch and what those teams do in European competition.

The MLS is nowhere near the level of the Portuguese league and you (everyone) cannot possibly come with results from friendly games that Portuguese teams have played there either in pre-season or end of the season, most times with their scrubs, because they don't go there with their best players because the trip is long and tiring and they fear the risk of injury, which at the end of the season would be really bad.

How many players play in the MLS would make a team in a Portuguese team? I don't think many would, seeing as I don't think no players on their prime go there, they all go play in Europe or even in Asia. If you think a league that can't attract any talent at a young age, can compare with one that is ranked 6th in Europe, then well... that says it all about your knowledge.

 

Haahah, yea right!!!! SCORE!!!!! Try leaving Raleigh,NC and go to Europe for a moment. MLS!!!! YEA BECKHAMS BALLS ARE SO COOL!!!!! SCORE!!!!!!

Look how we BITCH slapped your boy Beckham...




FORCA SLB, FORCA PORTUGAL!!!!

 

HUAHAUAHHAU Yeah Boy!!!!!!!

 

It always amazes me that posters need to knock a league in order to rationalize the Adu Move, whether it be the MLS or the Portuguese League.

Firstly the Portuguese League is vastly more technical then the MLS can ever hope to be.

Secondly it is one of the best "entre" leagues if you want to play In one of the other "Big" leagues in Europe. Each year the best teams in the World come to Portugal for the next big player.

As for Competition this year the Portuguese League will have 7 Clubs playing European Football:

Porto (CL)
Sporting (CL)
Benfica (CL qualifier)
Belenenses (UEFA Cup)
Braga (UEFA Cup)
Boavista (UEFA Cup)
Leiria (UEFA Cup qualifier via Intertoto Cup win)

It could be the second straight year for 3 teams in the CL.

For a non revenue generating league, that's pretty good considering they have to develop players in order to compete.


That's why Adu is there.

 

[youtube]21CuiSWJ4iY[/youtube]

 

This is just getting silly. If you're going to point to the strength of the Portuguese league as a whole, then you need to take into account the results of ALL of the league's teams, not just Sporting, Benfica, and Porto. Yes, those three have done very well, especially considering the relatively small size of the home country. Kudos to them. The others haven't, and they make up the bulk of Freddy's probably opponents.

Then, of course, there's the fact that many (most?) American players choose to go to England and Germany before Portugal to ply their trade, and many of these players go from MLS to do so. That is, many MLS players are good enough for the EPL and Bundesliga---are you going to seriously going to claim that they aren't good enough for the SuperLiga?

 

You guys are all funny...

Still hanging on to 1 victory...

Remember we are discussing leagues not NT's...and quite frankly after that dismal display in South America I wouldn't bring up the USMNT for a while...and save the "We were trying to win the Gold Cup" conversation for posters that care.

Adu is the thread topic not a game from 5 years ago....

By the way...how did the USMNT fare at this most recent WC...care to dig up any youtube clips from it...

I didn't think so...

 

Considering most of these MLS players go to mid to lower table EPL Teams I would say Adu made a better decision.

Keep in mind that your former USMNT captain played for mid table Man City, hardly the same thing.

And the likes of Tim Howard couldn't cut the musterd at Man U and got sent over to Everton...hardly the same...and the list goes on and on...

Any US players at Barcelona...Real Madrid...Bayern...ah..you get the point.

 

JLR.......you are the greatest Sportinguista ever!!!!! Good post.

 

He plays for the Gals. ******** him sideways.

 

How many Portuguese victories over the US in meaningful matches can YOU hang on to?

It's just amazing that all the Portuguese guys would come to a US soccer message board and run down our league, and then act shocked when we fire back.

 

Okay, well, I didn't think anyone had the guts to do so, but apparently the Portuguese SuperLiga is better than England's Premier League and Germany's Bundesliga.

It always amazes me how people never seem to have a sense of irony.

Freddy's going to Benfica because of the club's (much-deserved!) reputation for developing great players. He's going in the hopes of first-team and Champions League experience that will make him a better player and get him noticed by a top European club. He's NOT going because of the quality of play a lot (not all!) of the SuperLiga's clubs will provide.

 

it's disgusting to see all the portuguese leagup poster jacking eachother off on the internet. Make sure you don't sit too close to the screen.

 

No SuperDave you are wrong!! We were attacked first as always!!! God da,m this shit! People were here saying how the Portuguese SuperLiga is a subpar league and how we are ranked 19th. We are actually ranked 6th in the world.

We were defending our league because poeple were actually dissapointed that Adu would come here over MLS. Why wouldn't he? Benfica is a great club and the SuperLiga is a punishing league. Our clubs are feared throughout Europe.

As if we should be privilidged to have the great ADU!!!????? No, he has really been kind of a bust hasn't he? We will make a man out of him.

Why don't you guys hop back on the Lady Beckham bandwagon and the EPL and let our clubs beat up on your great Man U's and Liverpools and Arsenals!!!!

Like Steven Cohen says MLS SCORE!!!!!!!

 

SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!



SCORE!!!!!!MLS!!!!