Freddy Adu: the next Pelé, American soccer savior ... Forgotten

Before Freddy Adu was forgotten, he was expected to be the savior of American soccer.
Over the span of Adu’s long career, he set historic milestones, resurrected a dying league, and represented American soccer on the global stage. Yet, his career is viewed as a failure. How does a 14-year-old kid once dubbed as the next Pelé end up being remembered more as a wasted talent who cost himself the opportunity to be America’s greatest soccer player ever? Well, sometimes the lens we’re looking through can be a bit distorted.
Written, produced, and edited by Joe Ali
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[@empire0]

The fact he had an entire league and country on his bandwagon at 14 years old, and he didn't end up being a psycho, i'd say he should be very proud of his career.

[@cadenr395]

Bro you really think he was 14?💀

[@brianalaundrie6192]

He didn't have the US on his band wagon. Nobody cared.

[@rosstarlouis]

He would've had a better chance in europe they program is way better. watch mbappee .

[@chino_ftwdavid4557]

@@cadenr395 don’t be that dude fitting to a stereotype be better

[@JuniorLopesJR]

@@brianalaundrie6192 at least he try to carry the USA to the World Cup

[@thenumberquelve158]

The fact that this guy A. did mature clearly, and looks back on his potential and the ways he easily could've done it differently, and B. successfully generated interest in the sport in the US and provided his family all kinds of safeties and securities with his earnings, is pretty incredible considering the whole country was feeding his ego as if it were a bottomless pit from such an early age. And hey, the dude's only 33 now and he still has most of his adult life ahead of him to do whatever he wants. Godspeed, Freddy.

[@FALL-LAFF-7477]

I would imagine a 'what-if' for him where he got a spotlight that similar with Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar at the young age. Not really that shine so much but exploded in the right time. I'm sure Adu would look more successful than what he did now.

[@jasonjansen9831]

Just poor, poor coaching, managing, and training. He needed conditioning, and discipline. Instead he got an entire country telling him how amazing he was. Hype killed his career.

[@damn_jaz9895]

​@@jasonjansen9831 that's because he played in America. Football there doesn't really develop stars . And that's the bottom line. Us can create basketball stars,american rugby stars , baseball stars (rven tough many of them are from south or center america or from the caribbean area) but regarding football,tehy still have a lot to do

[@coenwalmsley5722]

Football Manager will never forget this immortal wonderkid.

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

FM09 legend lol

[@David-iv6je]

Adu should have gone into a club development system in Europe. Also, you can't project success of an athlete at age 14.

[@natedicksonmedia]

Fifa Street 2 had Adu's stats pretty high I remember

[@Mateus_Carvalho]

@@natedicksonmedia They rated him at 71, I think. Wasn't too high but you could improve him if you wanted to. Now, in Football Manager, on the other hand...

[@Wallyworld30]

@@David-iv6je LeBron is a rare case where he surpassed the teenage hype he was getting.

[@valpix7007]

The irony is, the future of US soccer *WAS* taken in that 2004 MLS draft. It just came at pick 8, not pick 1 - New England took some kid out of Furman named Clint Dempsey. (There was also Michael Bradley in the fourth round!)

[@Matthew-bu7fg]

where are the great American goalies at these days? There was a period in England where you had Keller, Friedel, Howard and even Hahnemann all plying their trade here. Okay Steffen and Horvath are here now but not at the same level

[@valpix7007]

@@Matthew-bu7fg Slonina looks like he has a ton of potential

[@paullew4853]

@@Matthew-bu7fg true, I’d say though he’d be the first “star” as great as those three were (and they were) even at his peak Tim Howard wasn’t a star at the level they wanted Adu.

[@ianm1462]

@@Matthew-bu7fggotta start wooing Dutch families over to the US so they bring their ‘glue-glove’ keeper style here

[@dbzfan667]

Being in the DMV, Adu was all over TV for the first few years locally and then fell off like everything. It was odd, almost a local star to the level of a young Ovechkin, then suddenly nothing

[@zacktrever1878]

Him, MJ, Arenas and Ovechkin ~ facts

[@janedoe3043]

It's because people in America don't want to watch soccer. They just want to win the biggest trophy and brag about it. Kid didn't do that. He would have been famous if they all of sudden won world cup after world cup... But just like Olympians that doesn't mean people are going to watch him play every game. The sport just is not exciting enough for Americans.

[@Reynolds69er]

Does DMV stand for Delaware/Maryland/Virginia? I guess, more specifically, the DC area?

[@dbzfan667]

@@Reynolds69er DC/Maryland/Virginia. Because of the shared metro/interstate circle that connects the 3. Usually people use Delmarva for the delaware/maryland/virginia connection

[@zacktrever1878]

@@Reynolds69er DC ~ and only North VA

[@myfbusters]

This is quickly becoming my favorite SB series. Great work, y'all!

[@jkmusingss]

Man, this dude had so much on his plate at such a young age. Had almost zero room to just be. Great stuff, Joe. I really love this series.

[@therockhova21]

As someone that grew up in MD at the peak of adus hype it was crazy how the dynamic of MD changed because of him. Kids went from doing whatever at recess to strictly playing soccer for a while. Moco invested super heavily in youth soccer programs and event built a "stadium" in the middle of the suburbs. His impact was felt all over the country but it was fascinating to see how he shaped the state and county during his Era

[@chekhov4215]

Yeah, I grew up there too! It's crazy how much soccer has grown. Boys' soccer has kind of become less of a thing, of course, but now most girls who play sports here choose soccer.

[@jordanmoir1076]

I grew up at the beach,so that's where all the tax dollars go🤣.also never heard of him till much later

[@Watchingvideoslikeu]

This was also a time when more and more athletes from north Virginia, moco and pg and dc were garnering national attention and going pro in the NBA, NFL, and were having great stints in the NCAA.

[@irishjet2687]

I don't think anyone should criticize Freddy Adu (or his family) for letting the fame, money, and praise go to his head, and for not reaching the potential people thought he had. He was the age of your average 8th- or 9th-grader, and was suddenly thrust into being a superstar athlete, the savior of a failing league, and the boy who would get 300 million people to love soccer. All things considered, I'm amazed he seems to have turned out to be a well-adjusted person.

[@SoupRS]

It's crazy how hyped up he was

[@trailblazer77]

TRL bro. Enough said. It was the social media platform before s.m

[@jordanmoir1076]

He really wasn't

[@SoupRS]

@@jordanmoir1076 what

[@jordanmoir1076]

@@SoupRS simple soccer is such an incredibly small sport and I question the fact that aside from small children no one knew he was a star.

[@SoupRS]

@@jordanmoir1076 The video alone shows how unbelievable hyped up he was - he alone brought millions in ticket sales.

[@tmage23]

The expectations for Adu were through the roof - like Messi level. He was never going to live up to them

[@jigglycarollo805]

He literally played against Messi in a U19 game and people were saying that Adu was going to be better than him.

[@rafaelfermin4619]

The issue is that Messi was developing quietly in Barcelona while Adu was thrown to stardom right away. Messi never had that kind of expectations from the public (but he had expectations from people inside the sport) which helped his development and when he debuted, he was ready. Adu was never ready unfortunately. Debuting that young made everything worse and he should have went to Europe when he had the chance

[@deknegt]

@@rafaelfermin4619 So much this. Lionel Messi 'only' debut when he was already 17 years old and he mostly played with the B-Team in that 2004/2005 season. He didn't have his first big season until 06/07 where he played 26 league games and he really started to break out as a star, and he still had other experienced stars around him that HE could rely on like Ronaldinho and Eto'o. Meanwhile Freddy debut as a pro at only 14, and was immediately expected to be the league's best player and had nobody to fall back upon, he had no chance to naturally mature and improve in a low-stakes environment, and as a result got chewed up in the media and his growth both as a player and person completely stunted to the point where all that potential evaporated. For comparison, Messi at 17 was the youngest ever debutant and goalscorer in La Liga history and that was an astounding moment that ultimately paid off. I wonder what would've happened if Adu had gotten 3 seasons to simply grow as a player, rather than being forced to be a star way too early.

[@thewriter8762]

What sucks is that he was still a kid. To me, if he’s garnering this attention at 17 or 18 and goes to Europe, it’s an easier pill to swallow for a parent because you’re about to be an adult, but as a kid at 14 to just pack up and leave is hard for a parent to just do on a whim that maybe he is the next soccer star. American hype machines are wild to watch because it can completely tank a career.

[@defeatstatistics7413]

Messi had mentors. Xavi, Ronaldinho, Deco, Rijkaard, then Henry and Guardiola. He spent his teenage years in one of the world's best youth setups, where Adu had few senior players to guide him, a league that saw him as a cash-cow, and the weight of an entire nation's expectations on him. Messi was under very little pressure until his late teens and early 20s, everyone knew he was good, but Argentina had plenty of good youngsters, they weren't relying on just him being great to elevate them. Same goes for Barcelona, they already had Ronaldinho, then went and signed probably the world's best striker in Henry. Messi coming through was the cherry on top, that later became the whole cake. Any player labelled "the next Pelé" is cursed. Nii Lamptey, Adu, Robinho, they've all been crushed by the weight of expectation, even if (at least Adu and Robinho) they turned out to be pretty good players with long, successful careers.

[@analoguegeek]

It's insane to realize that this guy is still 2 years younger than Messi, 4 years younger than Ronaldo, a year younger than Lewandowski and is in fact the same age as Alex Morgan, and Gareth Bale. And he's actually still playing professional football in Europe (albeit for a 3rd tier swedish outfit)

[@de132]

Adu was actually let go by Österlen FF, the 3rd tier Swedish side. He's currently a player available on a free, without a club since February 2021.

[@cadenr395]

Bruh you really think this man is 33?💀 there’s a reason he dominated in the youth so much

[@willsaenz6320]

Rest in Peace Grant Wahl, an all time great of soccer journalism, gone too soon.

[@WKaliberr]

all because of the covidvacksine

[@jeffbroccoli]

The crazy thing to me, was how prepared MLS and people around him were prepared to push him as a star despite the fact he hadnt even played a single game amongst grown men yet. Loads of kids dominate youth level and then come to a screeching halt when they go face to face with seasoned pros and real athletes.

[@utho8080]

Clicked on this vid bc I hadn’t heard, thought about, or seen the name Freddy Adu in over 15 years. Secret base, y’all are doing the damn thing. Great topics

[@Nerdshrink88]

Incredible work, the dedication to telling these untold stories is what keeps Secret Base as my favorite KZbin channel, not just for sports, but overall. Keep up the amazing work everyone!

[@Timmy_tuffnuts]

This is why I give props to LeBron, he had the spotlight and hype on him forever and not only did he meet expectations he exceeded them.

[@joshselkovits466]

Exactly. He lived up to impossibly high expectations at an unbelievably young age.

[@pswisss412]

Some Lebron sexual always making it about him!!! Stfu already

[@JoshuaSMurray]

Even LeBron was at least graduated from high school before going pro. I'm sure Freddy would have been better off debuting at 18 years old... even 16 years old.

[@K1ngHardaway]

Mane Lebron just built different,my personal G.O.A.T. I feel bad for his sons because they're never gonna live up to the hype that's around them.

[@Timmy_tuffnuts]

@@K1ngHardaway yeah bro for real I feel like the media is going to be tougher on them then Michael Jordan's kids.

[@julianthesmooshyhusky8976]

The only soccer player I ever remember seeing on TRL back in the day

[@trailblazer77]

85 baby?

[@kobebarka8633]

I will never forget Freddy Adu! He was a staple during my childhood, my father made sure I watched him play. I’m better for having watched him play. Much love to Freddy!

[@williamhild1793]

Freddy Adu reminds me of Gerry Cooney. Both had talent, but both had media hype ten times exceeding that talent. And when both failed to reach the heights that the media hype demanded, people unfairly remember them as a failure, rather than talented athletes who still had remarkable careers.

[@doubledown0411]

My take on the Freddy Adu saga is There are a whole bunch of grown ass professional sports executives, coaches and media people who should have known better.

[@SIdCon03]

Factos

[@MatulKM]

Literally a whole league

[@CSLucasEpic]

I was wondering when you were going to make a video about Adu. If anything, what Americans can learn from his career is that, no, America's development system was not on par with Europe, in fact it was not on par with anyone. Freddy Adu's development as a player would have been better anywhere else in the world. America's soccer development system was about developing marketing and buzz, not players.

[@kgizzle92]

He needed to be at and academy the Ajax Academy or La Masia!

[@raresflorea6855]

@@kgizzle92 Hell back in that day even Carrington or most top italian dev academies would've saved him

[@VolvagiasBlaze]

It's almost as if the best players playing in the US tend to be from anywhere outside of the US

[@sjewitt22]

@@raresflorea6855 Even carrington ??

[@raresflorea6855]

@@sjewitt22 yes…?

[@RonBurgundy412]

I had a cup soccer tournament in the DMV area growing up and Freddy was the face of everything around the area. He faced way too much pressure at a young age to become the greatest American to ever play the game

[@gautam0826]

The podcast "American Prodigies" covered Adu's early career in good detail, narrated by the journalist who wrote the Sports Illustrated article which shot him to stardom.

[@krumbleme2]

Freddy never lived up to the over inflated expectations but was by no means a scrub. Dude could ball and every now and then would pull off a dribble/pass/shot associated with the games greats. I'm glad I got to watch him play.

[@kgizzle92]

In an alternate universe Freddy Adu goes to the Ajax Academy or La Masia where he spends a couple years developing his skills, debuting at 17 in a European league…what follows is a top flight career with multiple World Cup appearances for the USMNT!

[@krumbleme2]

If only....

[@bobofindlay]

In the UK, every team has had a young player who dominates in the youth League but struggles with the physicality in the first team. It happens.

[@dakotataylor6605]

This was a fantastic video. He def is not the failure everyone remembers him as.

[@guilhermeberbert]

By the time he was 15 people who follow youth football knew he wouldn't amount to anything. There are dozens of Adu's around the world, players who seem like world beaters by the age of 13 because their bodies developed a bit earlier and they are a bit stronger and faster than the competition. And 2 years later they are barely benchwarmers because their peers caught up. Hell, if you want more proof, just watch the Under-17 world cup. check the names of the top goalscorers of the U17 WC. See who panned out 4 years later. Not a lot of them. Ask around any country whose sports culture revolves around football and you will find that literally every country has an Adu-like story. Or multiple Adu's. He only got attention and had as many chances to succeed as he had because he was american and young american athletes have this hugely bizarre hype machine behind them.

[@bryjam]

Yeah this is so true. Kids mature at different rates. Often the early bloomers look superior to everyone else, but by the time they're adults the other kids have caught up and many will surpass them.

[@ryuixyui]

He wasn't though. He was born in Ghana. Pulisic and Donovan are examples of great American athletes. This isn't racism but a factual statement. Let's face it, it's just dishonest to claim he is an American when he should have been considered one of the great Ghanians. Adu and countless other players are examples of stolen valour, where other countries exploit poor countries, like African countries for talent yet do not recognize this instead they claim the talent as one of their own because they cannot produce talent.

[@mr.robertdobalina9199]

@@ryuixyui another bad anime pfp take

[@defeatstatistics7413]

@@ryuixyui you know the player can choose which national team they represent right? That's why former England international and certified South London lad Wilfried Zaha plays for Cote d'Ivoire.

[@Mateus_Carvalho]

Well, yeah. Obviously those in the United States who care about it have been chasing for a superstar of their own for ages, one that could finally promote them to the upper eschelon of that elusive sport they've never been able to tame, football. So when they did find a kid doing well in an international event, they sure as hell made him known, to the detriment of the prospect himself. Granted he didn't do himself many favours, most of it is on MLS management and the marketing people.

[@heavymetalweatherman7774]

Really shines a light on the idea that in America, we care a bit more about the celebrity of our athletes than giving them the best opportunity to succeed at their sport. Glad the MLS has used Freddy’s career as an onus to improve its development methods.

[@conenubi701]

FREDDY ADU! I can't believe secret base is doing a video on him. I remember soooo many years ago the hype surrounding him. He's grown up/matured a ton but he definitely caused a little bit of a popularity bump in the USA for soccer.

[@jeffyjeb]

Most people criticizing him will never attain a quarter of the greatness he achieved. The problem is that he was thrust into the limelight too early. I hope he is finally doing something that he enjoys and loves.

[@Koalawashington]

Nice take, I appreciate how you didn't dog him the whole way, and gave him his deserved credit for what he did do...Thank you 👏

[@athetenth]

This is a great video! Keep it up SB!

[@apollo105]

I think people dont recognize how much of a cesspool the mls was and to this day still is. Even from this its still very much apparent that he wasnt getting what he needed to be successful. Say what you want but for him to garner interest from inter milan before even getting to highschool says alot. The truth behind his demise is the simple fact that he had no business in the states.

[@mysteryshrimp]

MLS has come a long way, but only to the point where we can see how good we could be. The refs really need to look to Europe for how to not become part of the story. The overly complicated salary distribution system makes owners make decisions that likely don't even make sense to them, and true international stars will never be able to sign here with the current system. We are either a development league or a retirement league with the salary system. We are currently very good at developing kids to young teens, but going from talent to world class is outside of our knowledge base. Can we just stop ourselves from predicting the upper limit of people barely out of middle school?

[@Timmy_tuffnuts]

Totally agree mls straight up ruined him.

[@richmahogany1]

@@mysteryshrimp whats the salary distribution system?

[@apollo105]

@@mysteryshrimp not doubting that but the league used him to push the league and that's not fair for a 14 year old kid. Think about how long he's been in the league and today hes still relatively young

[@mysteryshrimp]

@@richmahogany1 complicated. There are multiple salary caps going on at the same time. General allocation money, Targeted allocation money. Up to three players are exempt from the caps. There are a certain number of international players you can have on your team. Certain number of "homegrown" players. Certain number of young prospects. And most of these rules change with different competitions.

[@AnthonyMcNeil]

This is a great series. I was hoping to have some kind of video on Adu. Dude was hyped as heck. Had so much pressure on him.

[@tommytsunami4910]

If it wasn't for the hype, he was an adequate player. He was solid in the 2011 gold cup and that shot he had for the las Vegas lights like 3 years ago was absolutely incredible

[@starwarssatan5588]

What shot? He only had one goal for Vegas, on his bday, and it was a tap in

[@MichaelStephenFreitag]

Okay, I love the direction of this series: explicitly looking at well-known sports stories and figures from different angles to see how it reframes them. A series that lets the creative talent at Secret Base shine a light on unique stories and use them to reflect their greater cultural contexts? Hell yes.

[@tdbank394]

Easily the best series on SB, good work

[@JohnMFlores]

The way you turned it around at the end was great. Thanks 🙏🏼

[@romey2fresh]

Best channel on KZbin. Steadily delivering amazing content

[@yungsuit]

This ending should be said for a lot of athletes, especially Freddy but people so often forget that athletes are people with families

[@carlyslebrown1601]

I honestly *love* this episode and it's portrayal. I had heard of Freddy Adu growing up, and how he was reaching unprecedented success at such a young age. It's much like you said in the video: the harsh reality of being the *first* in your field, and the massive expectations brought upon you. Imagine having to both play the sport *and* promote it at the same time. And yet... thanks to Freddy, we have newer examples of American soccer superstars, who have learned from the mistakes made and themselves come into their own. Pulisic, Mckennie, Tyler Adams and more, as well as bringing new eyes to a sport that rarely sees any attention on its own. If that ain't a success in its own right... I don't know what is.

[@CharmCityGamer]

I remember when they signed him, you couldn't escape the kid on sports news, he was EVERYWHERE. Now I forgot he was a thing!

[@wakiki192]

At the time mls didn’t understand that it was extremely difficult and rare for a young player in that league to make it to the big stage

[@youtobe12127]

Damn this vid is only a few months old RIP Pele RIP Grant Wahl

[@stephenramos2824]

I was at his debut game when he came to Benfica and watching him live you could clearly see he was an average player. Decent on the ball, nothing special but his off ball movement and tactical awareness was horrible and it was an aspect for his game I don't think he ever improved. Don't blame him, he was badly coached as a teenage and never learned the basics.

[@rook1196]

saw him at U-19 worlds (which his play there is why Benfica signed him). he wasn't the best player (Aguero was), but damn he was the most exciting. He had the Canadian crowds/neutrals really on their feet. He was just torturing dudes on the wing/flanks and took Brasil to the woodshed. No one could handle him 1v1 on the flanks he has the pace and the dribbling ability to create space there. Problem was he hated playing wing and fancied himself as a CM where he insisted he'd play at DC (and sucked) b/c he was ace at 13 there. you could see it in the knockout match that the US was eliminated (Austria). The US went up 1-0 quick thanks to Adu cross, and then.......ugh. He just abandoned his position. Parked himself in the center, hogged the ball, and started running into the teeth of the D where he was easily ganged up on and dispossessed. Austria, which has no business beating the US that day realized they had the entire flank that Adu ignored to counter and did just that winning 2-1. I just didn't get it. The US national team soon brought him back for the Gold Cup and he started doing the same nonsense. He had the talent to be a winger on a good club, say Shawn Wright Phillips if SWP had the talent to send a beautiful cross in from 30 yards away. You can say US coaching was bad, but the fact is the majority of our all time best stayed in MLS until 21-23. He did himself no favors, no one got through to him. The talent was always there. You'll never convince me that he wasn't "good enough". There is no reason why he shouldn't have had a better career like some his U-19 teammates such as Bradley and Altidore. Any high school coach would have noticed that hey Freddy you gotta play your position and play team football and I'm sure any pro coach would have thought to themselves, all of his problems could have been solved easily. He just never listened to any coach, its the story of his career.

[@thetruth1862]

This is a great story glad you all did a piece on it

[@TOPGNBR1]

I had a friend that played with him on American youth team he said Freddy was quickest player he ever saw sad how his soccer career went

[@zachsegars2828]

Please keep these coming! This series is amazing!

[@bangaamen501]

I was waiting on this one. If only he mastered his game he'd be on of the greats fr. What a great video once again

[@DBSMoonMaster]

Watching kids channels like Nick would have you hear this guy’s name every single ad break

[@jayoakes7874]

Best episode so far and Joe Ali great job

[@alexjohnson-fry3778]

this is so sad man. he deserved so much better. I remember my friends talking about how cool Freddy Adu was when we were 9 or 10. The US did him so dirty

[@jonscottiegrippin]

"An entire professional sport league turned to a 14 year old kid to be their knight in shining football cleats.............is kind of gross". This is honestly no different than any other child actor/actress in hollywood. The MLS pretty much pimped him out. That was my thought throughout this video to make him the face of the league and fulfil so many other obligations is very disturbing. Great video.

[@gamerreap]

I remember Freddy back in Maryland my dad would cut his hair when he was in town, went to house twice and met his mom he was a cool guy really nice

[@kiddbuu5178]

I'm glad you did this when I was a kid we called him the tiger woods of soccer. At 14 we expected him to become the goat. Unreasonable expectations.

[@valdu5899]

The ending was beautiful, gave me goosebumps

[@ManUsingLogic]

He never would have been the next Pele, but if his selfish mother had let him go to United at 14 he would have developed into something a lot better than an average mls player

[@evanolet]

Imagine if he had signed that development deal with Inter instead of letting MLS crush his potential.....

[@AbdulazizM1982]

He would have had a better career no doubt, Obafemi Martins was 17 around that time period and flourished with Inter.

[@bford9279]

love the new series keep up the amazing content!

[@mrterp04]

I’d love to see one of these on an even bigger DC sports bust: Kwame Brown. His overall story is insanely fascinating.

[@kalstonii]

No, its not. He was not good enough in high school to go number 1, he was getting demoralized by mj. Spirit was broken and never repaired

[@Puruvian]

@@kalstonii part of his downfall was mj tho, he wasnt the type of person which would mesh with mj

[@K1ngHardaway]

@@Puruvian that's not Mj's fault though, plenty of people have played and put up with Mj's bs. If you're good then you're just good, no one can take talent away from you.

[@Puruvian]

@@K1ngHardaway it can take the drive away from you, kwame isnt someone who can handle hard personalities like mj, and mj should have known that kwame like that isnt a good thing, he was still a teenager

[@PeaneutzTV]

@@Puruvian MJ wouldn't have cared less even if he knew how to act, and being a teenager isn't a valid excuse for the likes of him. For him, if you are supposed to deliver (high pick in draft) but you can't stand for yourself and can't take everything thats handed to you plus more, you don't deserve to breath the same air as him. MJ was and still is the best athlete to ever live but he is a total nutjob before everything else.

[@jduke93]

I still got excited when he came to my hometown Philly union but I knew his talents were long gone

[@chrisnease88]

I'm so glad someone did a story on him, thanks

[@PaperSmiles]

What a perfect example of why kids should be allowed to grow up and mature before being launched into professional sports. 14. Bloody hell.

[@mcmaliciousgravy]

I was a fan as a kid in his first MLS days. When my local USL club (Las Vegas) signed him back in 2018, I really wanted it to be a new revival and a fresh start for him. 14 appearances, 1 goal, left the team at season's end. To this date it was his last goal in a professional game. What was supposed to be a feel-good signing was just more of the same. Frankly, it sucks, man. :(

[@teecee4883]

Who else used to buy this lad on Champ Man back in the day coz he was 🔥 First American wonderkid I'd ever heard of, shame he didn't reach his full potential.

[@knutthompson7879]

He has spent 20 years getting paid to play soccer, traveled around the world, played for his country, and was very important to the MLS and soccer in the US. That's a pretty good run by any reasonable measure. And he was able to lift his family out of poverty. He lived the American Dream in many ways. But, heck, he was doing commercials with Pele at 15. The sky wasn't the limit, it was the expectation. It was a lot. And as the years went by, as skilled as he was, it became clear he never would completely grow into a top level, world class offensive force. But, no shame, at least not in my mind.

[@ezmacerik]

I am loving this prism series and can't wait for more to come out. Would love to see you do one on Michelle Wie.

[@jtbgaming33]

He was a complete PR move by the MLS but once he left he wasn’t good proving he was just another wonderkid

[@josephfisher426]

Sometimes people peak when they're 14. His promoters should have been more aware of how the physicality of adults might affect him (and did). I wondered about it at the time---did anyone just get in his way? Ultraskilled youth teams don't play like Burnley.

[@MrPatati93]

Hearing Inter Milan as a "franchise" still make me scratch my head

[@Sugarist0]

Bro if he went to Milan or literally any other European club, we wouldn’t be talking about him in this way for sure

[@TheTEN24]

Being a pro at 14 is hilarious. This definitely seems tough on someone that age and makes sense why he didn’t live up to it.

[@Anorcus]

Joe and Kofie are my favorite secret base ppl give me more of them

[@BuhoneroSoy]

This is surely one of my favs

[@jairlevy]

In Europe we have many "Freddy Adu's" There is alwyas that kid that everyone said he was about to be a football superstar and then around is 18 he start to vanish since his guidance was terrible. Adu come to Europe too late and with too much expectations. Benfica is a power house developing players, but there is not a single clube with 100% success rate in upgrading this players, This stories are one of the reasons we must be careful hyping super young players. Brazil does this all the time, but is fine, since if in 10 you can get at least 1 then you will be alright..

[@jackied962]

At the end of the day, Adu just didn't like to run. Managers said it was like playing a man down with him on the field. Turns out that is an important part of the game, no matter how skilled you are.

[@sandoc9]

When I was a 5 year growing up in the DMV I saw this man as god! I remember yelling his name to get an autograph while going to DC United games.

[@WunderbredSyndicate]

I remember having season tickets for DC United and watching his first game. Everytime he touched the ball the crowd went wild. He was a big deal around then.

[@MPLoura]

I remember when he came to Benfica. Me and a my friends couldn't stop laughing that a real world club had signed a Football Manager wonderkid.

[@collin8915]

It's always intriguing to think about how different thinks could've been if Mama Adu let him move to Europe.

[@kb5509]

He did move to Europe. He was terrible.

[@selerim]

The media messed him up bad. Too much hype on him and he was very young too. He didn't developed well and so failed. It's not his fault it was the damn media

[@bangaamen501]

Secret Base does it again 💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿

[@WKaliberr]

Freddy Adu was 25 when he burst onto the scene as a "14 year old:"

[@mgf909]

2:19 that was the mistake in my opinion. If he would’ve went at a young age to Inter he probably would’ve actually become a super star. Messi went to Barca at 13, it wasn’t unheard of for teens to go off to Europe at a young age. Just an opinion.

[@Jakemufcfan]

The football manager streets will never forget

[@ayoPHREEK]

Growing up you wold see is name everywhere, never even watched MLS….and then he vanished lol good to see he had a good career

[@kourii]

Was looking forward to this one

[@kevinhousen2791]

I was just thinking aboit him a couple days ago. Good work you guys.

[@bryjam]

Obviously there's plenty of criticism of him turning pro to early and how MLS overhyped him, but I also wonder if he was simply an early bloomer. Plenty of teenagers look great because they're more physically developed for their age, but by the time they reach adulthood and have to play on level ground they don't stand out. Adu could have gone to a European academy and been released before his 18th birthday like so many others.

[@oldfrend]

he had flashes, man he had flashes. i remember a US match against spain, he treated spain's defense like a cone drill and dribbled around them all night. but he was always useless on defense.

[@yudigg7]

i’m from pg county(outside of dc) and don’t watch soccer at all but i was so proud of freddy when i was in a kid

[@firstlast446]

Everyone has to wonder, would it all have turned out differently if his mother had just taken that first deal.

[@DrPede]

I can understand a parent not wanting to allow their 14 year old to commit to an international program, but I have to wonder how much different Adu's career would've been had he signed on with Inter Milan. I can only speculate, but he wouldn't have been the premature poster boy for an entire damn league over there. Maybe he would've developed into a soccer star.

[@rerun40807]

US soccer failed his development and learned from it with pulisic, Reyna and the rest

[@GrownUpKid94]

Imagine Freddy signing a youth deal with Inter, then coming back to MLS in four years. It would be like if Pulisic came back for Philadelphia Union.

[@adriancimpoi8765]

I've watched a few Adu goals compilation. He had technique, pace, acceleration, strength, long range shooting, even free kick taking skills. Freddy was basically an American Mario Balotelli. With a proper environment, he would have left Donovan or Dempsey (Pulisic career is still going) miles behind.

[@E24-t6g]

I know you don’t do many soccer/futbol videos but please do one on Mario Gotzes 2014 World Cup winner

[@usecode___7453]

and his career afterwards would be very interesting aswell I think

[@brettjohnson3357]

Bro hearing “his family won a green card lottery” is depressing as hell, that’s insane to me