He broke into the DC United first team in2004 at the age of 14. That's 14-year-old. He was like Cherno Samba, Sonny Pike and Tonton Zola Moukoko rolled into one. Europe's big sides were falling over themselves to offer him trials here, there and everywhere. Football Manager and Championship Manager aficionados had a new favourite player.
But, somewhat predictably, that's about as good as it got for Adu. He was moved on to Real Salt Lake in 2007 for a short stint before a move to Europe signalled the beginning of the end. In four years he played 11 league games for Benfica, being loaned out four times. The final of those loans was to the heady heights of the Turkish second division.
In 2011, he bit the bullet and moved back to America with Philadelphia Union, but even that didn't last long. He was moved on to Bahia in Brazil, where he played two league games before promptly being released. Now, after he couldn't even agree a deal with Blackpool, he's about to end up in Serbia with FK Jagodina. Let's hope he has some nice pictures from his early career.
We may be wrong but he doesn't look overly happy with the move here.
To all my American followers who are waiting for confirmation of this monumental transfer: Freddy Adu at the stadium! pic.twitter.com/tZ02ZY5F22
— Serbian Football (@SerbianFooty) July 24, 2014
Oh what might have been!
