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Adu's options
Youth phenom's case prompts pleas for patience
Posted: Thursday September 25, 2003 7:54PM; Updated: Thursday September 25, 2003 7:54PM
By Ridge Mahoney, Soccer America
For a brief period at least, the Freddy Furor has subsided.
America's teenage wunderkind has gained his first experience at a world championship, during which agents and scouts from around the world observed him and met with his representative, Richard Motzkin.
Motzkin proclaimed a deal should be done soon either with a foreign club or MLS, whose deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis was in Finland to stipulate the joys and virtues of staying home.
To his home in Potomac, Md., Freddy fled to spend some valuable days with his family before returning to residency camp in Bradenton, Fla., where he will continue a study plan that will graduate him from high school next May at the ripe age of 14.
"We're going through a very proper negotiating process with multiple parties to see if we can reach a conclusion that works for Freddy and his family," said Motzkin.
(Motzkin had said during the tournament he expected a deal to be done "within weeks, not months.")
At the under-17 world championships in Finland, Adu scored four goals and did little to eradicate his reputation as a supremely talented, utterly compelling, infinitely gifted child prodigy.
Yet questions abound. Assuming a deal can be brokered, could he move unfettered to a club in Europe, where FIFA transfer rules severely restrict opportunities for underage foreign-born players? Would it be best to take up residence at the academy or youth team of an AC Milan or Man U, or join MLS with the goal of playing sooner rather than later?
A player such as Everton youngster Wayne Rooney, who was developed in the club's system and made his Premier League debut at 16, before signing his first pro contract, is not subject to FIFA restrictions that were implemented after cases of African and South American teenagers imported by European clubs and then abandoned became public.
If Adu did join MLS, which team would get him? Ordinarily, he would be allocated or drafted but in no way is Adu or his situation ordinary.
"I really don't want to comment about that at this point," says Gazidis. "Until he signs with us, I don't see any need to discuss it in public."
His "hometown" team, D.C. United, may or may not have an allocation available for next season. Since the Bobby Convey transfer collapsed, the allocation provisionally given to the team as compensation is no longer valid.
One variable was removed a few days after Brazil beat Spain, 1-0, in the under-17 final. (Not coincidentally, those are the teams that beat the U.S. and to some extent shackled the 14-year-old phenom, who was hobbled by an ankle injury entering the competition and suffered some severe hits in the second U.S. group game against Sierra Leone.)
NO TRIP TO UAE. U.S. under-20 coach Thomas Rongen, citing time constraints, said barring extensive injuries to the current squad he wouldn't be considering Adu or any of his under-17 teammates for the Youth World Championship to be played in November.
"I can't experiment. I can't integrate new players," says Rongen, who will have only a five-day camp in October to prepare his team before it leaves for UAE.
"If I had weeks, and we had 10 more games to go in terms of preparation, I would clearly include Freddy Adu, and probably three or four other players like Eddie Gaven, like [Danny] Szetela, like [Jonathan] Spector, maybe [Memo] Gonzalez."
"His development clearly has accelerated being with the [U-17] program and getting valuable international experience. It's the next logical step, but he has three more under-20 World Cups to go. I don't think missing this one is going to stifle him or any of these players."
Rongen's point is a sobering one. The next generation of under-20 players will begin training in January for the 2005 Youth World Championship to be played in the Netherlands, Rongen's native country. Adu isn't eligible for the next under-17 world championships; players can compete in the same age group more than once in FIFA world tournaments, except at the under-17 level.
As to joining MLS, which has only a few reserve teams but does permit teams six developmental slots in addition to the regular 18-man roster, Metros coach Bob Bradley politely disagrees with those who believe Adu would burn it up right away.
"He might be the next Pele, you never know, but you might also have a situation like Nii Lamptey, who was great at that level and was supposed to be the next Pele but clearly wasn't," says Bradley, who nurtured young stars like DaMarcus Beasley at Chicago and currently has 18-year-old Mike Magee on his MetroStars roster. "It's going to require patience on our part, but I think everybody realizes the talent that is there. He's got certain gifts and you don't want to rush him, but at the same time you don't want to hold him back, either."
'NOT THE SAVIOR.' Rumors that MLS is prepared to "break the bank" to acquire Adu are deflected by Gazidis. "We're in competition for a lot of players," he says. "In that respect, Freddy is no different.
"He's still a 14-year-old. He's not the savior of soccer in America, but could he become a very significant player for the United States and in the world? Absolutely yes. He has that potential.
"He's a special young player for me because he's always a danger in the game. At any moment he could produce something that will affect the result of the game through a moment of brilliance or a moment of speed or a moment of opportunism. That's a very special characteristic to have even at this young age."