HE WAS HERALDED as the next great thing in football. He signed his first professional contract at 14, represented his country at 16 but ten years later, Freddy Adu has just signed for his 13th club.
It’s a well-worn tale of getting too much too soon and he’s now back in the US after putting pen to paper on a contract with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League (NASL – the tier below MLS) after a difficult few seasons in which he’s featured for five teams in three years across four different countries.
In 2011, Adu finally brought a tough stint at Benfica to an end. His time in Portugal was punctuated with a litany of loan moves but a switch to MLS and the Philadelphia Union gave him some much-needed consistency.
But soon, after just two years, he was off again. First he went to Bahia in Brazil before desperately trying to land a move to a European club. He trialed at Blackpool and AZ Alkmaar but neither team were keen. So, he signed for Serbian side Jagodina last year but made just one appearance before being released after just six months.
In March, he signed for Finnish club KuPS but he left earlier this month.
At the Rowdies, he will team up with Thomas Rongen again – the Dutchman served as Adu’s coach at underage level with the United States.