Magee hasn't been a forward since the first game of last season. He's been a midfielder since then. That said, he's inconsistant. He'll look great one game and horrible the next. This whole trade is a joke. Freddy would NOT get time with the Metros. He'd be behind Djorkaeff, Razov, SGR and Ibrahim as a forward and he'd be behind Gaven, Guevara and probably Magee (a Bradley favorite) at A-Mid. He'd be 4 deep at either of his positions. This is just a stupid rumor brought on by a slow news day, one of the duller Metros posters and our new mouthpiece joke of a GM. I'm honestly a bit surprised that so many of you folks got suckered into this long of a thread over it.
Why would Lalas say this: The MetroStars would love nothing more than to have Freddy Adu.....He would certainly play in New York. It's evident that he loves competition and wants to play, and we are certainly a team that would provide him with time on the field. I would love nothing more than for him to get fed up with D.C. Right now, I think the situation is a little like a Bruce Lee movie without a fight. He's got the star power, but there hasn't been the payoff. I'm kinda amazed he said that-you usually don't get a MLS GM to publicly fight over a player like that. Maybe he's just looking for MetroStars attention-thinking any attention is good. Then again maybe he really wants Adu on the team. I can't tell.
Dang! Those numbers are impressive. I was referring to the Home BO take though. While he did help in the past, do you think there would be a significant drop from this year's home take to next if Freddy were to leave town? BTW this is an honest question, not rhetorical. I think that most of the Freddy factor will dissapate or will have ossified into creating fans of the curious who would come to RFK to see a freddyless DCU. After all, in the tables provided, you are talking about a phenomenon that put approx 1700 more people in RFK per game. While nothing to scoff at, those numbers arent so large that they prevent Freddy from becoming trade fodder if the terms are sweet enough. I'd be interested to see what you think. My view is that DCU has already reaped 95% of the upside of Freddy mania. Let the Metros have a taste. At his current talent level, this is his real value to MLS and AEG and I think they know it.
No way should we ever trade any potentially dangerous, creative player to New Jersey. I'm still pissed we sent Lisi there, but luckily that worked out ok, since he really hasn't lit anything up since he got there and may have lost whatever it was he had when he was here or in school. Freddy is way too dangerous to be up there, he plays too well in that stadium Besides, he'd slip on one of those painted-on 30-yard-lines and rip his knee up or something. Freddy should not be forced to play too much on artificial turf, or for an artificial team. If you have to trade him, I say send him to Colorado, he could be the USA high-altitude specialist from 2007-2016 If I have to drive to Potomac and have "a talk" with Momma Adu herself, her boy is staying right here until he gets the call from Europe, when he gets a big enough payday.
As long as you continue to see banners with slogans like "Ready for Freddy," and see Adu t-shirts for sale in other stadia, the Freddy Factor will still be evident. Show me any team that doesn't need an extra 1,700 people in the seats every game. Why? That's absurd.
I dont buy that argument that he wouldnt get time on Metro. If this did happen I'm sure it won't happen until the offseason. SGR won't be back next year unless he takes a massive pay cut and I'll be surprised if Youri plays next year. His body seems to be at the end of the line.
I would just like to remind everyone that all these articles have contained none/zip/zero/nada/zilch in the way of quotes from young Freddy. Whether Freddy wants a trade or not...the Wise article just quoted a bunch of people with varying degrees of access to Freddy, the closest of whom said basically, 'we'll look at the situation at the end of the year, as we do evey year.' And this article had only 1 source, a red-headed publicity hound from CA. I'm just tired of reading "Freddy says this", and "Freddy thinks that", and "Freddy has an attitude" when it's all being spun by other people.
Uh huh. Refresh my memory: What titles were you defending when you were getting good crowds in April and May and June last year?
If only there was a real soccer newspaper reporter around here who could maybe ask Freddy what he thought about the whole situation. Sadly, it seems that all the real newspaper reporters have stopped posting here.
This is a good angle on what is happening but i would add a couple things. 1. The NY Times doesn't do pieces on the MetroStars because they are looking for a story. This story was most likely the result of the MetroStars FO tipping them off of their interest in Adu. If this is the case it isn't because Lalas and CO. just want to stoke fires or get a brief conversation going...they are seriously making their intentions public. 2. AEG as the principle owner of 5 MLS teams stands the most to lose if Adu doesn't end up being the massive transfer they were hoping for under the SEM sharing. We have to remember that MLS first in foremost is a business and AEG will make a business decision over a soccer decision in most cases. 3. There is strong evidence to think that Metro WILL make a move for Adu, whether or not a deal comes out of it is another question. Right now i would put it at 70-30 he stays put...but its really anyones guess.
Agreed. I never said Freddy would play there, and it'd definitely be tough for him to get time on your squad. Don't forget Ronnie O'Brien being ahead of him down there, as well. The same Lamar Hunt who is still keeping Greg Andrulis at the helm in Columbus? Take his word if you want. On another note, congrats on the stadium about to be opened down there. I don't know if I believe the instant profit scheme, but you guys definitely need it, as does every team still in someone else's building. Enjoy it and I hope some of the fans start coming back after the Dragon fiasco.
Freddy: "Gee, my coach never gives me enough playing time, even my home town fans say I'm over rated and dont deserve to start. But other than that live in DC is fan frickin tastic!!!"
It seems like with the Mike Wise article, & Freddy's displeasure in his U-20 performance, he needs a change of environment. I mean he was amazing for the U-17s and then meets Nowak and has his worst tourney ever w/ the U-20's . The two seem related
Star=no Sucsess=sure Failure=no Well Magee did play pretty well adjusting to a new position last year. And before you start trying to toss worthless stats at me, Arena thoughts so too as he called him up for a Nats camp in December..that fell apart due to the players issue and when it was resolved Magee was hurt and couldn't go. He has had a few injuries over the past season and a half but just because he had a bad streak of form over the last 5 games or so doesn't mean he is a bust. He did score last night.
I don't trust HSG's personnel acumen that much, but I do trust them to squeeze every nickel they can out of their crown jewel in MLS. Thank you. Incidentally, if you don't believe Lamar Hunt's word on the profitability issue, just consider that roofs are cute, but 17 rec soccer fields do a lot better job of generating revenues.
By the same token, during the same spell, Freddy joined DC United, and I bought a car. Surely those two are as related... Have you considered that the U-20s might be better players overall than U-17s? And that at 14, playing against 17-year-olds is easier than playing against 20-year-olds now? Part of the learning process for extremely talented players involves the realization that talent alone is not enough. The tricks don't work as well (or as often), defenses are tougher, and every player on the field is expected to play within the team concept. Freddy is still learning that. He's going to be a good one, but isn't there yet.
worst tourney ever? If Freddy puts one pk 2-inches to the left and some of his teammates finish off golden opportunities and there's no talk of Freddy having a poor tournament. Unlike Sigi, at least Nowak knows when Freddy is not in his best position. Anyone who's watched Adu play over the last 15 months understands that he is a much much better professional player.
Your response while timely does not address the point I made. I agree that 1700 (less actually) would no doubt be nice to have in the stands. You seem to believe that those people will A) be in the stands this year due solely to Adu's presence on the squad and B) not return next year if Freddy is not on the team. I am not convinced of either point. Thus, I see a possibility that an Adu trade could benefit DCU. I await your O'reilly-esque response where you quote three word phrases from my post with 'pithy' comments like 'that's absurd.'