Is he going to be dropped into a foreign country without friends or family and be expected to thrive on his own? At 18? Donovan didn't, and he was older, I think. I presume Mama Adu will stay in the USA with Fro, at least for now.

I'm sure Benfica will do all they can to make him feel at home, but it has to be tough. I think people are far too sanguine about how easy it is for anyone, not just soccer players, to pack up and leave their native - or adopted - home and get along without a supportive "posse."

Great point.

tcal makes a good point. I think sometimes fans (me included) forget that these kids are still kids. Look at what the Argentine U-20 kids did after winning the U-20 world cup. I was so used to watching them play great futbol that I forgot at the end of the day they were basically like freshmen in college. Only without the institutional support of being in college.

Best of luck to Freddy. I remember meeting him on his 13th birthday for a story I was writing for the Gazette many moons ago. I hope he still has the absolute joy for the game that he did then - if so, it will make what tcal mentions above a little less important...

I hope Freddy becomes the player many thought he could be four years ago.

And I hope Bonds holds a news conference this afternoon to announce his retirement, and lets Aaron's record stand.

Something tells me the former is more likely to happen.

"I think people are far too sanguine about how easy it is for anyone, not just soccer players, to pack up and leave their native - or adopted - home and get along without a supportive 'posse.'"

tcal, you're right. It isn't. I lived in six countries before graduating high school, and none of those moves were easy. You just have to understand that you're gonna feel UNcomfortable before you start feeling comfortable.

And jeez louise, flying back and forth across the Atlantic that much, it's gonna take him a week just to get un-jetlagged.

Wooohooo!!! Iam ahppy for freddy! This is the type of attention a great american player deserves! Hopefully with all this hype it will make him feel self confident. Lets hope he doesnt pull a donovan.

In 3 years he'll be back with expansion side Portland Timbers.

What does DC United get out of this trade? I seem to remember that, as part of the deal to send Freddy to RSL(?), DC was supposed to get some cash if Adu leaves MLS this year. Right?

Good thing Nowak gave Freddy left-sided midfielder experience, he's going to need it in Lisbon. Try the Sagres and Superbock, it's wonderful.

My only question is, if Lisbon goes nuts for Freddy Adu, what happens when C. Ronaldo comes back home? Or Figo?

And wow, I thought that Freddy was leaving and going to Europe to escape the hype. Yikes.

United will receive between $100,000 and $150,000 in allocation money and a third-round draft choice from RSL. The allocation money will be applied toward player acquisitions or restructing current player contracts this year or next.

Is that more or less than what South American clubs get when their players go to Europe?

I'm happy to see that Freddy decided to go to Benfica. It is a great club, obviously great fan support, and a great jumping-off point to the rest of the European clubs if he makes a name for himself. Plus, he has a great no. 10 to study and learn from in Rui Costa.

I had always hoped to see Freddy make a decision like this - to go to a place where he could develop professionally, work his way up through training and reserve matches and into the first team. Whether it was his decision or he took some good advice from his representatives, this seems to be set up for him to succeed (as opposed to trying to go to the biggest name team interested in him and having to go out on loans, etc.).

I agree that he needs to get a good support system in place to help him adjust to Portugal. Hopefully his 4 years of professional experience will help with all of this and I'd like to see him do well.

With our young and bright midfielders overseas playing in competitive leagues (Bradley, Feilhaber, Adu, Dempsey, Ngyuen even wingers Convey, Beasley and now Zizzo) do you think Landon is going to get off his duff and start challenging himself to get better?? He made noises recently about trying to go abroad again - I think he said the EPL. He's not guaranteed to start come 2010. I think all the traffic to Europe, Bradley not making him captain in the Gold Cup should wake him from his SoCal stupor.

Great deal for Freddy! I really enjoyed watching him play in the U20 WC last month and hope he does well for Benfica.

Hey tcal,

You are forgetting one thing that's different about Donovan: He's a big baby who shrinks from the big challenge. He's happy to be a big fish in a small pond. Freddy isn't like that.

I'm not worried about Freddy.

At least Freddy has the experience of moving to a foreign country before. Imagine those like Donovan who may have never lived in a foreign country for other then a few days vacation. If he really want to succeed then he will get over it and focus on the soccer. So much for the lowered expectations now he is in an even more demanding environment where soccer is king. All the best Freddy.

In Benfica Freddy has joined a team that has some experience in developing players like him.

And the previous comment is right in that Freddy already has experience in moving to a new country; first moving from Ghana to the US, then from DC to Salt Lake, which is like another country. Plus Lisbon has better weather than Leverkusen.

i think it's more of a novelty that they are getting a young american player in portugala s the cause of all the attention. if he was going to fulham i don't think he'd get as much. benfica is a great club and i'm happy to see freddy off and hopefully he improves for his own sake

Correct me if I'm wrong but Benfica is normally at the very top of football in Portugal, so doesn't this also mean that Freddy could see a certain amout of UEFA Cup and Champs league action during his time there? That, I believe, is also a good part of this move.

Good luck to Freddy!

The Soccer Insider has "contacts" on the ground in Lisbon....take that Ives.
Nice work.

TCAL - No need to compare Freddy to Landycakes. Hopefully freddy can handle being out of country better than our fearful captain.....

I'm happy for Freddy. I was never one of his bashers when he was here, and I'm glad to see him getting some recognition. I think his work at the U20s pretty much put him over the top. Good stuff. My knock on him is he's still a smallish guy. He's gonna have trouble in the center of the park wherever he goes. But it sounds like he might be moving back outside again with Benefica?

I'm happy for Freddy. I was never one of his bashers when he was here, and I'm glad to see him getting some recognition. I think his work at the U20s pretty much put him over the top. Good stuff. My knock on him is he's still a smallish guy. He's gonna have trouble in the center of the park wherever he goes. But it sounds like he might be moving back outside again with Benefica?

I was impressed with his U20 cup play after some lackluster DC Utd and RSL performances. I hope he flourishes, and agree that Benifica is nice solid club. If he continues to improve it could potentially lead to even bigger and better European clubs.

I may be wrong, but I think Benfica and other club teams from Portugal play 4-3-3, or at least let the wings in a 4-4-2 attack a lot. Think C. Ronaldo (not the ridiculous diving, more the 1v1 attacking on the wing etc.)

Good for Freddy. I never really understood the vitriol towards him on this forum, I just thought he was a young kid of whom too much was expected. And let's be honest, MLS is NOT a great league for developing talent. The play is way too physical for most 18 year olds to handle, and they get stifled. When he went to the U-20 WC, he shone, because the international style of play is more open and freeflowing. Freddy will get much, much better at Benfica. Maybe not great, but much better. Great move for him. Congrats and good luck.

Rossi signed with Villareal...

Why all of the Donovan hate? The guy has been one of the Nats top players for a while now. He's still young. He chose to play at home and still is a great player. Sure, he'd probably get better in Europe, but that's his choice. Who can fault the guy for wanting to live in LA instead of beautiful Leverkusen?

Any news on Altidore?

Any news on Altidore?

Great for Mr. Adu. He'll do well there, I think.

There are so many good stories here, and not enough time to read--Mr. Goff or the editors that be, I'd love a weekly recap....(just askin') :)

Is it finally safe to wear my DCU-Adu shirt again? Whew!

Here's the Wikipedia entry on Benfica, for those of you soccer newbies like me who wouldn't know Benfica from Ben & Jerry's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benfica

Actually, what happened in the U-20 was that Freddy went up against a bunch of other teenagers. He's always been good against the youth sides but not so good against the full international sides.

I hope he does well, I'd like to see him develop, but if all it takes to take him off his game is physicality, you think he's ever going to be good for the National Team? I doubt it. Too many Rino Gattusos and Michael Essiens out there.

I think he'll develop, but he has to be coachable and listen to what people who know the game say. He's always thought he was better as a 10, in the middle, but I don't know if he is. Look at what small players like Tevez and Joe Cole, who have the skill but not the body to play in the center of the park, have to do. Swing out wide, and then run at people. Or, if you're not up on the international soccer, what Fred has to do.

Good luck Freddy, but lose the ego.

Horray for Freddy and for DC United! From the moment he entered MLS, a lot could have gone wrong. But United's coaches and front office kept him healthy and growing as a player. This is a credit to Freddy, his momma, agent, and United (in that order).

Actually Donovan signed with Leverkusen when he was 16. NOT older than Adu.

Any word on the terms of his contract?

I know a couple of young adults who went to Europe alone to play. It was tough for them. They were lonely, didn't speak the language, had trouble adjusting to the different culture, weather, food, etc., and found that their new "teammates" viewed them as competition and, rather than embracing them, actually tried to hurt them in practice. These kinds of challenges could overcome even the most mature youngsters. I hope Freddy has someone along with him who can keep him company and help him adapt.

Donovan was 16 when he signed for Germany and went over. NOT older than Freddy.

BTW, the Portuguese broadcast cites the transfer fee at 2 million euros, not dollars.

"BTW, the Portuguese broadcast cites the transfer fee at 2 million euros, not dollars. "

Why don't we keep the deal at $2M and I'll take the ~$750K conversion difference.

Donovan's most recent stint was two years ago when he was 25.

it bears repeating that Landon was younger than Adu when he went to Germany.
Also, Germans are FAR more relentless than the Portuguese at attacking players who don't perform perfectly. They are quite demanding when it comes to such trivial matters as perfection. :p
Benfica is a good place for Adu to start. Celtic would have been horrible. At least they play attractive football in Portugal and he will pretty much always have a shot at Champs League/UEFA cup which is the real reason to move.
Further to Landon bashing, you guys think all these guys going to Europe automatically makes them better but the matter of fact is Landon is still better than all of them by a fair margin. He is temperamental but when his head is straight he is still superior to anyone else we have in the midfield.
Drinking the water in Europe doesn't suddenly make you a quality footballer. The only benefits of going there are the money (probably the #1 reason) and the fact that you get more higher pressure games to sharpen your mental toughness (if you are on a high profile team in a quality league--Ian Joy playing for St. Pauli isn't benefiting at all even though they may go up to 1.Bundesliga after this year.)
This is a game with a lot of innate skills. You are generally born able to play or you aren't. There really isn't all that much that can be 'added' to your skill set. Only refined through repetition.

Any advice on where to catch Benfica on TV in the DC area? I'm a no-cable, no-satellite person so I need to go to an establishment.

I think more important than is play in the under-20 wc was his clear leadership. I think he's really taken a step forward. I don't see ego being a problem.

Donovan's most recent stint was two years ago when he was 25.

Posted by: Andrew | July 31, 2007 07:45 PM

Donovan's 25 now. He was 23 when his second stint in Germany ended. He was 16 or 17 when the first one started.

Thx,

Jay!

Check out Summers in Arlington for all your soccer desires.

Check out Summers in Arlington for all your soccer desires.

People easily forget some great moments Freddy had against the big boys, too. Celtic last summer? Real Madrid last summer? Lots of great moments in MLS play with United? (Not so much with RSL.)

His first year, he was strictly a substitute. Then he worked his way into United's first eleven...last year he was one of United's top players, like it or not.

It's not like he's done nothing outside of youth tournaments. He's shown lots (and lots) of flashes of brilliance, which is the most you can expect from a teen.

I'm excited for him.

I think Benfica plays a 4-2-2-2... Adu will get his chance playing the Simao role as a wanderer... if he performs there well, sky is the limit

for research purposes only of course, this site has info on how you can catch matches that your local providers don't carry:
http://www.myp2p.eu/Matches/Match4.htm

Doesn't Setanta also carry some Portuguese league games? I'd imagine Benfica would be in there somewhere.