Adu to Monaco on loan

[Ricochet]

Frank it looks like Rongen is trying to get Zak to come in for the 5 day camp and friendly but from what I read is that Liverpool has yet to release him.

[Ricochet]

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/....asp?id=166835

United States starlet Freddy Adu is determined to translate his blossoming brilliance on to the senior stage when he makes the step up to the professional ranks.
The 14-year-old is widely heralded as global football's most breathtaking young player and he is tipped for a massive future.

Adu is already wanted by a clutch of Europe's elite clubs and is expected to make a decision on which professional team he will join next year.

The exciting attacker's dazzling displays for the US' Under-17 side have earned him a spot in the Under-20 set-up and he has the footballing world at his gifted feet.

He is fully aware of the hype that continues to follow his mind-boggling progress towards the professional arena but appears to be unfazed by the huge interest in his talent.

The teenage sensation admits he no longer seeks to impress the scouts who are enthralled by his ability but is eager to prove he can make the giant leap from youth football to the senior game.

"I used to try and impress them (scouts) but not any more," said Adu.

"I've matured a lot and right now I'm excited but I don't feel any pressure at all.

"I know people are expecting me to be the next big thing and I want to go out and be one of the best players in the world, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

[Ricochet]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=280045&cc=5901


Adu not in U-20 plans ... for now

Marc Connolly
ESPN.com

CARSON, Calif. -- When speaking about the selection of his under-20 National Team for the World Youth Championships next month, head coach Thomas Rongen made it very clear:

Freddy Adu is keeping his fingers crossed on making the U-20 team. (Eric Miller/GettyImages)

"I'm not a firm believer that you take players just for the experience," he said on Wednesday night. "You take players to win a World Cup."


Apparently, one of those players is not 14-year-old phenom Freddy Adu.

"After we've worked with this team for the last eighteen months, it's very hard to introduce any new players into our group," explained Rongen, who coached three different teams in Major League Soccer before taking over the U-20s in 2001. "Those players are aware of that and I've talked to them."

After training with 14 of the regulars from Rongen's squad, as well as U-17 teammate Memo Gonzalez, earlier this week at the Home Depot Center, Adu was given such news.

"He told me that as of right now I am not going with the team," said Adu.

The gifted striker was disappointed, but understanding of the situation.

"They've been together for 18 months," he said. "I think it's pretty hard for coaches to just bring somebody else in to replace somebody else. He has to stay loyal to those guys who helped him qualify, and I respect that. I don't have to agree with his decision, but I respect it."

After playing 14 minutes in a scrimmage against Japan after Rongen told him he had tonight to "prove him wrong," Adu was pleased with his performance.

"Hopefully," he said, "I did something out there on the field that makes him think twice about that decision."

Adu didn't see much of the ball in the team's 2-1 loss, but he did show the flash of speed and talent that has clubs all over the world inquiring about his services.

Rongen said that Adu played well during camp and impressed him as much with his maturity and love for the game as he did with his skills on the field. Not having him on his 20-player roster isn't a knock to the young wunderkind in any way, he said.

"Freddy is a very talented player and we all know that," said Rongen, whose side will take on Germany, Paraguay and South Korea in group play when it travels to the United Arab Emirates on November 22 for the three-week long tournament. "Freddy will be able to play in three more (U-20) World Cups."

If there happens to be an injury from the current squad that is split between college players and professionals in MLS, Rongen said that the roster spot won't necessarily go to Adu.

He mentioned five players from the U-17 team that made the quarterfinals in the World Championships six weeks ago as being possibilities should he need another player: Adu, Gonzalez (L.A. Galaxy), Jonathan Spector (Manchester United youth side), Eddie Gaven (MetroStars) and Danny Szetela (residency in Bradenton, Fla.).

"If we get an injury to a defender, I'll take Spector," said Rongen. "If we get an injury to a midfielder, I'll probably make a decision between Eddie Gaven and Memo Gonzalez. We get an injury to an attacking player, it'll be Freddy Adu."

In the meantime, Adu says he'll be crossing his fingers that Rongen will "have a change of heart," and will be busy enough in Bradenton finishing up his senior year of high school either by February or later in the spring to keep his options open for a future that has endless options.

Major League Soccer's draft is in January, and could be a nice option for Adu to make himself eligible for, as it would allow him to get a taste of professional soccer without being in a foreign land on his own.

Then again, Adu wants to push himself as much as possible.

"I want to be pushed around," joked Adu. "It's just drive to take my game to another level. That's what I want to experience."

Manchester United has been tracking his progress throughout the year, which certainly excites Adu, "I've loved them ever since I was a baby.

"I would love to end up in England someday, playing for Man. U. or some team like that," he said.

As well as the U.S. National Team.

Adu might not play with the U-20s this time around, but it's only a matter of time before he dons the U.S. colors for the Olympic Team, and makes a push to be on Bruce Arena's 2006 World Cup squad.

This isn't a roadblock on his path to stardom. Just a speed bump.

[Frank Cunha]

i HAVE TO AGREE WITH ROGEN

[Ricochet]

same here

[Frank Cunha]

can wait to see Gaven in tonights game, the kid is good, he makes the team go

[Frank Cunha]

Adu Signs Six-Year Deal, Will Play for D.C. United

By Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 18, 2003; 10:13 AM


Teenager soccer phenom Freddy Adu has signed a six-year deal with Major League Soccer, sources said, and will play next season for D.C. United.



Adu, 14, whose family migrated from Ghana to Potomac in 1997, was pursued by clubs from around the world and has drawn comparisons to legends like Pele despite his age. The deal will be announced at a Wednesday press conference in New York City, where the league is based, sources said.

Adu is expected to join D.C. United fulltime after he graduates from high school in May; the striker trains in Bradenton, Fla., with the U.S. under-17 national team and starred for that club in the Under-17 World Championship in August.

He is one of the youngest athletes in American history to sign a professional contract to play a team sport and could become the youngest athlete to play a professional team sport in more than 100 years.

Adu turns 15 on June 2 -- the MLS season begins in April -- while pitcher Fred Chapman made his major-league debut in 1887 at age 14 years, seven months and 29 days.

Sources said the framework for Adu's contract with MLS was solidified Monday night and the final details were being hashed out this morning. English superpowers Manchester United and Chelsea were the other finalists bidding for his services, sources said, and actually offered more money than MLS did, but various other factors went into his family's final decision. Adu nearly agreed to terms with Manchester United last month, sources said, but a planned visit to England was put off at the last minute due to a major shakeup in the management regimes of Manchester United and Chelsea. Adu's agents also negotiated with teams from Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, according to sources.

Adu, who signed a $1 million deal with Nike this year, will now get to live and train at home, will be a major focus of attention for his league and has the opportunity to begin playing in top flight games much sooner here than he would abroad. Adu might have run into difficulty playing for a European team before his 18th birthday anyway, given FIFA's rules prohibiting non-European based youngsters from playing for foreign teams without a European passport.

Adu has trained with D.C. United numerous times during the past few years and is well acquainted with the players and coaching staff. He has not looked out of place in practices and scrimmages with the club, and Coach Ray Hudson said over the summer that he believed Adu has already developed enough to play in MLS, although not as an immediate starter.

"I have no doubt he would fit into any MLS team in any MLS game on any given Saturday," Hudson said in July. "He would fit in like a hand in a glove and not let you down."

Hudson could begin coaching Adu in a matter of months. All player contracts are negotiated with MLS, rather than any individual teams, and Adu will sign as a "Project 40" player, a system designed to integrate younger players in the league. He will be eligible for the Jan. 16 draft; Dallas currently holds that draft pick but sources said D.C. United will trade future considerations -- likely including a player exemption for Dallas to sign a foreign player -- to the Burn in exchange for the first pick, as playing for D.C. was a prerequisite to Adu signing with MLS.

Adu and his agents, Richard Motzkin and Dan Segal, made it clear during negotiations that their client wanted to play for his hometown team. Adu has spent considerable time away from home during the past two years, traveling the world to play games, and his mother, Emelia, has stressed the importance of family and education throughout this process. Adu received his first professional offer at age 11 from Italian powerhouse Inter Milan, but it was rejected to preserve a normal childhood for the prodigy.

Officials from MLS have been following Adu closely for years, laying the groundwork for this historic deal. They have maintained a steady dialogue with Adu's agents and contract negotiations began in earnest in August during the Under-17 World Championship in Finland. Representatives from the league spent a week in Finland and deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis flew to Helsinki for two days of meetings with Adu and his family at the time and the voracious interest of the league, as well as its history of nurturing young talent, helped its cause greatly.

Financial terms of the contract were not immediately available -- it is believed to be worth several hundred thousand dollars a season -- and there remains a possibility that Adu could end up in Europe before the completion of this deal; MLS would benefit handsomely from its percentage of the transfer fee should that occur.

Many within U.S. Soccer believe Adu will be on the team that represents this country in the 2006 World Cup, assuming the Americans qualify, and the possibility remains that Adu could participate in the Olympics next summer as well (an under-23 format). Adu was not included on the roster for the under-20 World Youth Championship, which begins later this month.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Frank Cunha]

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/NextStep/20031118080118/view

[Frank Cunha]

Breaking News: Freddy Adu To Sign With MLS, Probably Wednesday in New York
By Robert Ziegler, 11.18.2003.


Sources with US Soccer and MLS say Freddy Adu has signed a multiyear deal with the American league.

A news conference announcing the 14-year old sensation's deal with MLS is tentatively scheduled to be held Wednesday in New York City. Adu and agent Richard Motzkin have been negotiating with teams from around the world, but FIFA transfer rules restricting under-18 players from playing overseas, and a desire by MLS to sign the prodigy helped seal a deal with the American league.

Adu’s signing would be a huge plus for the league, eager to capitalize on the star value of the suburban Washington DC player, who first burst onto the scene as a 12-year old phenom with the Potomac Cougars, and then the Bethesda Internationals. Adu will also be at MLS Cup festivities in Los Angeles, prior to this weekend’s championship match between Chicago and San Jose. An ABC television interview during the match is likely.

While all the discussion on Adu playing with MLS has centered on DC United, it is unclear at this point how the allocation will be sorted out.

The league decided to step up and make the investment," a source familiar with the process said. "They don't have any doubt they will be able to recoup their investment, both in terms of exposure and a future transfer."

The same source said Adu and Motzkin negotiated to ensure that the player will receive a percentage of a future transfer.

The Washington Post is reporting the deal is for six years, although seems inconsistent with FIFA regulation governing contracts for under-18 players.

Adu was born in Ghana and recently became a US citizen along with his mother and brother. He played for the U17 National Team in CONCACAF qualifying and at the FIFA U17 World Championship. Scouts for European teams have been tracking him for the past few years.

More on this story as it develops.
Last Modified: 11.18.2003

[Frank Cunha]

Freddy's ready
Fourteen-year-old phenom Adu signs with MLS, headed to D.C.
Posted: Tuesday November 18, 2003 11:52AM; Updated: Tuesday November 18, 2003 12:54PM
Freddy Adu gained worldwide attention when he starred at this year's Under-17 World Championship.
Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated

More on Freddy Adu
Grant Wahl: Adu takes the stage

Wahl: As good as advertised at U-17s

Wahl: Agent fields offers at U-17s

Wahl: The beauty of Freddy

SI Flashback: The world at his feet
SI Flashback: Will U.S. fall for Adu?



The most talked-about youth soccer player in the world will be wearing the red and black of Major League Soccer's D.C. United next spring.

Freddy Adu, the 14-year-old American soccer prodigy, has signed a four-year contract with MLS (plus two option years), culminating a fevered three-month-long pursuit that involved such global giants as Chelsea, Manchester United, Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona.

The deal is a major coup for MLS. An electrifying goal-scorer with remarkable speed, vision and ball skills, Adu has the potential to be the first American male soccer icon, a crossover star who could significantly raise the profile of the eighth-year league.

"Not one person in the world soccer industry, from all the naysayers in this country to every major soccer team in Europe, thought that we would sign Freddy," said MLS commissioner Don Garber. "This says strongly that we are serious about the business of growing the sport of soccer in this country."

Financial terms were not disclosed, but sources tell Sports Illustrated that MLS has made Adu the highest-paid player in the league.

"This is a very important signing for us," said MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, who spearheaded the negotiations. "Freddy is a supremely talented young player, probably the best young player in the world."

Adu, a Ghanaian-born striker who emigrated to the U.S. in 1997 and became an American citizen earlier this year, is set to travel to New York for a formal announcement on Wednesday.

"It has been a long and diligent process," said Adu's agent, Richard Motzkin. "At the end of the day, Freddy and his family decided that beginning his professional soccer career in the United States was the right decision for him."

Sources told SI that Adu spurned more lucrative offers from Europe to play in MLS. Why? Three reasons. Adu can 1) live at home with his family in Potomac, Md.; 2) play first-team professional soccer as a minor in the U.S., a practice forbidden in Europe to non-EU citizens by FIFA, soccer's governing body; and 3) have a more nurturing environment in MLS than he would in the hothouse of European soccer.

Adu's decision to join MLS was the bolder choice, said Motzkin.

"Had Freddy signed with a European club he would not have been able to play in any sort of club match until he was at least 16, and probably not until he was 18, because of the FIFA restrictions," said Motzkin. "Taking that path, he could have remained a mythical figure who occasionally appeared and dominated in youth competitions. But instead he's choosing to show what he's got right now."

:"If Freddy had gone to the superclubs, who were all interested, he wouldn't be as important to them as he is to us," said Gazidis. "For us Freddy is a unique and precious jewel."

Significantly, MLS will retain the sole ownership of Adu's rights, which figures to produce a mega-windfall for the league if Adu approaches his potential and is ever sold to a European team for a multimillion-dollar transfer fee. (To put things in perspective, Manchester United reportedly paid $21.1 million this year for 18-year-old Portuguese wunderkind Cristiano Ronaldo.)

By contrast, the rights to MLS's current top star, 21-year-old Landon Donovan, are owned by the German club Bayer Leverkusen (which has loaned Donovan to the San Jose Earthquakes.)

To obtain Adu, D.C. United has already reached an agreement with the Dallas Burn -- holder of the No. 1 pick in next year's MLS SuperDraft -- in which D.C. will trade an as-yet-undisclosed asset to Dallas. (One source said the transaction would likely include the allocation D.C. would receive if Marco Etcheverry announces his retirement.)

When asked if Dallas fans will be comfortable with the move, Garber said: "Absolutely. Dallas is not a playoff contender. They had one of the worst seasons in the history of our league. They need impact immediately, and they will get that. Dallas needs to have somebody that's going to help them win some games as they get ready for moving into their new complex in 2005."

Reasonable people can disagree about the kind of impact Adu will make in MLS at 14 next year, but MLS is preaching caution. Said Gazidis, "It will take a little time for him to adjust to a fully fledged professional environment. We shouldn't expect him to explode onto the scene in 2004. At the same time, he hasn't been tested to his limits yet, and I would never say never with Freddy."

"Freddy is someone who needs to be carefully developed physically and competitively," said Garber. "He's playing with grown men, guys who are not going to care that Freddy's perceived as the great hope for the sport in this country. They're going to do everything they can to make sure he has a rough time."

For now, though, Adu and MLS, to say nothing of American soccer fans, will celebrate the news. Said Motzkin, "Freddy is excited to begin his professional soccer career in this country, and to participate with the U.S. national teams to further develop and then one day take his craft overseas."


Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl keeps you up to date with

[Ricochet]

this is huge coup for the MLS it should improve the marketability of the league by a great deal.

[Ricochet]

I wonder how much $ the MLS had to pony up to keep here?

[BethlehemFC]

I don't know about the money it took. I'm confused because I thought of the FIFA rule he could only sign in the US (sign a professional contract).

So I guess in some ways this doesn't surprise me because I was under the impression he had to sign a domestic pro contract. I have no clue how this FIFA rule works -- or even if it's enforced (or really a rule for that matter).