Adu all but gone to Portugal

It's always been clear that Freddy Adu would depart MLS for Europe as soon as he turned 18, but his failure to take MLS by storm limited his options and his transfer fee potential.  When he first appeared in the league, I thought he had a chance to be the first $10 million transfer, so to be off by almost an order of magnitude shows the danger of overhyping someone who's not quite the finished article.  But in the end, Adu will land in a club that will allow him to refine his technical skills, and in a league that will force him to play at a high level every weekend.  And besides, he's "only" 18, so he has time to grow into the player that many people thought he would be.

Benfica have an "agreement in principle" to sign Adu to a five-year contract provided that he passes a physical.  If he does so, he will be one of three reinforcements that manager Fernando Torres is trying to bring onto the team.   Freddy got quite a reception at the Lisbon airport from Benfica supporters, which surprised him to say the least.  Below is today's (7/31/07) front page from the Portuguese sports daily A Bola, where Adu is sporting a Benfica scarf and is posing next to a kid holding a card saying "Benfica doesn't need Simão, we have Adu". (Simão left Benfica for Atlético Madrid this summer.)

Adu was also concerned about dealing with racist chants from fans in Portugal (and for good reason, if one looks at incidents across the Continent).  The article's not on the free side of the A Bola site, but apparently Abel Xavier talked with Adu and said that he shouldn't have a problem. 

Comments

[cat dirt]

im no soccer expert- but he is going to be sitting on the bench at benficia? no?

[Dominic Vieira]

Hey my name is Dominic Vieira I'm 15 and I was the one next to Freddy heheheh..... After what I've done newspapers are asking me to publish my sotry "MY LIFE CHASING OTHERS" and they even think of gibing me a column. If you can change your entry I would be happy if you'd put my name.

LISBON
PORTUGAL