When he signed a professional contract for MLS side DC United at the age of 14, Freddie Adu became dubbed as the ‘next Pele’. However, the career of the now 26-year-old has definitely not hit the heights since then.
Expectation is always high when a genuine talent emerges and is termed a ‘wonderkid’ or ‘starlet’. Suddenly the weight of footballing expectation is heaped on their young shoulders and eyes are turned their way.
More recently it has happened to Martin Odegaard, who transferred from his native Norway to Real Madrid before a loan move to SC Heerenveen after finding game time hard to come by with the star-studded Los Blancos.
Before both Odegaard and Adu there was the case of Cherno Samba – a name synonymous with the term ‘prodigy’ for those who played Championship Manager’s 2001/02 version (below).
Adu is now, according to The Sun, looking to sign for Polish second tier side Sandecja Nowy Sacz after being released from MLS side Tampa Bay Rowdies. It was only three years ago that the prodigy turned journeyman was on trial at then Sky Bet Championship side Blackpool, hoping to gain a foothold back into football.
At the time, then stand-in manager Barry Ferguson said of Adu: “Freddy is just over to train and I’m going to have a look at him. That’s as far as it goes at the moment. He’s not played in two months and he’s just come back from Brazil. We’ll see how he does in training.”
However, Adu didn’t cut the mustard at Blackpool who chose not to take him on after the trial period expired, leaving the man once dubbed as ‘the new Pele’ to further drift around the footballing hinterlands. Now it seems that Poland is the next stop for Adu on his tour to prove himself as a footballer.
