Players

Freddy Adu was the American Pele, but now he confessed why he never made it at MLS

By Mauricio Saenz

Freddy Adu had everything to be a star and was compared to Pele, but ended up being a flop at MLS and never became who everybody expected. Now he told why.

Freddy Adu had everything to be a star and was compared to Pele, but ended up being a flop at MLS and never became who everybody expected. Now he told why.

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Freddy Adu drove the whole soccer world, and specially the US, when he made his pro debut at 14 years old. He showed great performances at MLS with DC United and won the MLS Cup, getting the atttention of everybody and candidating himself as the big USMNT star of the future.

He was named the American Pele, and they even filmed a commercial together. The hype around him was huge. But he ended up disappointing with his bad performances at Real Salt Lake City and Benfica. After some bad loans from the Portuguese club, he returned to MLS thanks to Philadelphia Union, where he spent two years and did not perform. He confessed in a podcast why.

Adu revealed that he was not training well enough because of an unconscious sense of entitlement. He had been wanted by Manchester United and Chelsea in the past, He had been told that he was going to be a better sportsman than Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Michael Jordan. He relaxed and admitted that mentality hurt him a lot in his development.

Philadelphia Union was his last MLS experience. Then, Freddy Adu played in Brazil, Serbia, Finland, and came back to the US to play in the USL Championship. He made a life selling vacuum cleaners and after two years without a club, at 31 years old, came back to the activity in the third division of Sweden.

 

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