They compared him to Pelé, he said he was better than Messi and today he only earns 10 dollars a day

It is quite common that every time a footballer who shows great qualities from such a young age appears, he is compared to the historical star of his country. In Argentina, it used to happen with Diego Maradona, until Lionel Messi arrived and broke all records. Now, it is Leo who is set as an example, something that can put too much pressure on those youth players who continue to emerge.

In this line, it is commonplace that in Brazil their figures are still compared to Pelé, who lost his life at the end of 2022. However, this time he resembled the three-time World Cup champion with someone from another country: This is Freddy Adu, who was born in Ghana but since he was young he went to live with his family in the United States. At the age of 14, he was on the cover of all the magazines due to his great resemblance to O'Rey, with whom they got together to do a soda ad. After a perfect Under 17 World Cup in 2003, offers began to pour in.

Both AC Milan and Ajax were determined to buy him, but his mother believed that at 17 he was too young to leave the country, so he signed for DC United, a club that was very close to his home. Millionaire contract with Nike, cover of FIFA 2006 in the US, he had it all. But little by little his level dropped and in his career he ended up playing in 14 clubs. A short time ago, he had to do all kinds of advertising on the Internet to survive, charging about 10 dollars for them, according to what he revealed in interviews.

The relationship with Ángel Di María in Portugal

El Fideo was Adu's teammate at Benfica: The Eagles bought them both almost at the same time. In an interview, Freddy himself said that he felt that at that time he was better than Fideo, but when he decided to leave because he did not have everything, he changed: “The biggest mistake I made in my career was going on loan to Monaco from Benfica. I say it from my heart. It was one of those decisions that, if I could go back, I would not make ”, he assured.