Thursday, 16 February 2006
Adu. Bless you.
Interesting to see Freddy Adu getting some press at home. I have watched him 3 or 4 times on the box and once live and quite frankly I think he's terrible.
The US Teenage sensation, as he is often known, is said to be at the centre of a tug of war between Chelsea and Man Utd. Well, as Sir Alex was quick to point out: "We have watched him as a youngster, but there is no interest in him at the moment." (more). I'm not surprised, John Obi Mikel he is not.
2 years ago Adu, who was born in Ghania and brought to America by his mother 6 years earlier after winning a visa lottery, decided to turn professional. He was 14 years old, Nike clamoured over his signature and paid a $1m and then Major League Soccer (MLS) made him their highest-paid performer. 'Soccer' fans in the US rejoiced, kids had a new poster on their wall and the MLS had their very own Pele. No pressure then for the polite young man, who by all accounts might already be 18 and not 16.
Chelsea have also been rumoured to be interested with a £5m bid (loose roubles to them) but this also smells of an agent keen to cash in on his luck. So despite a winter of speculation it is back to DC United for the 2007 season, the team Adu signed for as 'number 1 draft pick' 2 years ago and has seemingly been unhappy at ever since.
What a move to Europe may have encouraged is a place is the USA's National squad for the World Cup, but after being sent home by coach Bruce Arena from a training camp last week with these words of wisdom, that too looks extremely unlikely:
"He's a good young player, but he's a little in over his head at this level at this point in his career. You need to use logic when answering that question. He's not a starter on his club team and you're asking where he stands on making a World Cup roster? Without giving you prognosis, I'll let you figure that out."
When pushed further by reporters Arena finished by saying: "Is he a long shot? Is he a definite? I'll let you figure it out." Oh well, they always have Jonathon Spector.... ¶ 22:49
Interesting to see Freddy Adu getting some press at home. I have watched him 3 or 4 times on the box and once live and quite frankly I think he's terrible.The US Teenage sensation, as he is often known, is said to be at the centre of a tug of war between Chelsea and Man Utd. Well, as Sir Alex was quick to point out: "We have watched him as a youngster, but there is no interest in him at the moment." (more). I'm not surprised, John Obi Mikel he is not.
2 years ago Adu, who was born in Ghania and brought to America by his mother 6 years earlier after winning a visa lottery, decided to turn professional. He was 14 years old, Nike clamoured over his signature and paid a $1m and then Major League Soccer (MLS) made him their highest-paid performer. 'Soccer' fans in the US rejoiced, kids had a new poster on their wall and the MLS had their very own Pele. No pressure then for the polite young man, who by all accounts might already be 18 and not 16.
Chelsea have also been rumoured to be interested with a £5m bid (loose roubles to them) but this also smells of an agent keen to cash in on his luck. So despite a winter of speculation it is back to DC United for the 2007 season, the team Adu signed for as 'number 1 draft pick' 2 years ago and has seemingly been unhappy at ever since.
What a move to Europe may have encouraged is a place is the USA's National squad for the World Cup, but after being sent home by coach Bruce Arena from a training camp last week with these words of wisdom, that too looks extremely unlikely:
"He's a good young player, but he's a little in over his head at this level at this point in his career. You need to use logic when answering that question. He's not a starter on his club team and you're asking where he stands on making a World Cup roster? Without giving you prognosis, I'll let you figure that out."
When pushed further by reporters Arena finished by saying: "Is he a long shot? Is he a definite? I'll let you figure it out." Oh well, they always have Jonathon Spector.... ¶ 22:49
