Background and career
Fredua Koranteng "Freddy" Adu (born June 2, 1989) is a former professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder. Born in Ghana, he played for the United States national team. From before the time of his signing with D.C. United at age 14, Adu was spoken of as "the next Pelé". After leaving D.C. United in 2006, he became a journeyman, playing for 15 teams in nine countries: the United States, Portugal, Monaco, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Serbia, Finland, and Sweden. At D.C. United, Adu broke several records. First, he became the youngest athlete ever to sign a professional contract in the United States at 14 years old, after he was selected by the team in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft in January 2004. Three months later, he became the youngest player to appear in a Major League Soccer (MLS) game when he came on as a substitute against the San Jose Earthquakes. These records have both since been broken by Maximo Carrizo and Cavan Sullivan, respectively. Adu made his full international debut for the United States national team at the age of 16 in 2006. He went on to earn 17 caps for his country, and was a part of the US squads at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as at the CONCACAF Gold Cups in 2009 and 2011. He also represented the United States Olympic team at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Adu was born in Tema, a city located 16 miles east of Accra, where he played soccer against men three times his age. In 1997, when he was eight, his mother, Emelia Adu, won a green card through the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery, and his family moved to Rockville, Maryland, where he attended Sequoyah Elementary School. In February 2003, Adu became a United States citizen. Soon after arriving in the United States, he was discovered by a local soccer coach and began playing with boys several years older. Adu attended The Heights School, a private school in Potomac, Maryland, for several years. While playing with the U.S. Olympic Development Program in an under-14 tournament against the youth squads of such traditionally strong Italian teams as Lazio and Juventus, Adu's team won the competition, he led the tournament in scoring, and he was named MVP.
At the age of 14, Adu became the youngest American ever to sign a major league professional contract in any team sport when he was chosen by D.C. United as the number one overall pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. In order to allow Adu to play close to home, MLS assigned him to D.C. United on November 18, 2003, working a deal with the Dallas Burn, who owned the top pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. Dallas was compensated with a player allocation. Having already signed with D.C. United, Adu effectively became the first player selected in that draft, two months before it officially took place. D.C. United had previously signed American youngsters Bobby Convey in 2000 and Santino Quaranta in 2001—both aged 16 and the youngest players in MLS at the times of being drafted.
On April 3, Adu came on in United's first game of the 2004 season against the San Jose Earthquakes as a second-half substitute, making him the youngest player ever to appear in United States professional sports. On April 17, at the age of fourteen, Adu scored his first professional goal in the 75th minute of a 3–2 away loss against the MetroStars. In doing so, he became the youngest player in MLS history to score a goal. In his first season as a pro, Adu finished the year with five goals and three assists, while playing in all 30 regular season games. Although briefly a starter, Adu was relegated to a substitute when D.C. United acquired central midfielder Christian Gómez mid-season, and it was in this role that he appeared in United's MLS Cup victory. He played in three of four playoff games for D.C. United, assisting one goal during that time. Adu was criticized from a number of different angles in his first season as a professional. Some commentators suggested that Adu was too young to be playing professionally and that he needed more time to develop mentally and physically among players his own age. In his second season, he was suspended for one game after he complained about his playing time in the media. During November 2006, Adu had a trial with English club Manchester United for two weeks, but he was not able to gain a work permit and so could not play in any competitive games, and only trained with several players from the Manchester United academy during his two weeks. Continued development, especially of his defensive skills, helped Adu become a starting midfielder during the 2006 season. In addition, Adu had been chosen to take spot kicks during D.C. United's two penalty shootouts—scoring on both attempts. He was selected to the MLS All-Star team twice, once as a commissioner's choice and once as the coach's. He was selected for the Best XI of the 2006 MLS semifinals by Soccer America magazine. In 2005, he was nominated for FIFPRO Young player of the year.
On December 11, 2006, D.C. United traded Adu and goalkeeper Nick Rimando to Real Salt Lake in exchange for a major allocation, goalkeeper Jay Nolly, and future considerations. Adu made his debut for Real Salt Lake on April 7, 2007, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–2 draw with FC Dallas. He scored his first goal for the club on May 20, 2007, converting a penalty kick in the 68th minute of a 2–1 loss to FC Dallas. Adu went on to score his second goal with Salt Lake from another penalty in a 1–1 draw in an exhibition against Boca Juniors. Adu was also captain of the U-20 United States men's national team in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where he made an impressive showing. After the conclusion of that tournament, Benfica of the Portuguese Liga secured Adu's rights from MLS for a transfer fee of $2 million.
On July 28, 2007, Adu opted out of playing for Real in their regular-season match, and later that day, boarded a plane to Portugal to negotiate with Benfica. On July 30, Benfica issued an official statement announcing that Adu had been transferred to their club. The following day, the signing was completed and he trained with the team in Lisbon. Adu cost Benfica US$2 million. On August 14, 2007, Adu made his debut with Benfica against Copenhagen in a UEFA Champions League qualifying match, coming into the game in the 37th minute as a substitute.
