Something Has to Happen to Freddy Adu

With the news that Freddy Adu's contract will not be renewed by Brazilian club Bahia, I can't help but wonder what it would take for Freddy to get his career back on track.
The early attention paid to his skills on the ball were entirely merited, as we had never seen a player so young with the type of ball control that he had.  And although we know that his career hasn't developed at all the way he (or any of us) had hoped, it is easy to forget that he has had some truly spectacular moments in a USA shirt.

My first real memory of watching Freddy for extended minutes was only six years ago, in the 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada.  He was the creative force that drove the yanks to finishing at the top of Group D ahead of Poland, South Korea, and Brazil (including a 2-1 win against Brazil.)  Freddy Adu looked absolutely Beastly at times during the tournament, and it seemed as though he was a shoe in to become a contributor for the senior team.  At the time, I thought that his creative attacking abilities were so unique to the USA pool that he would be invited to absolutely every camp. 

But as we know, Freddy couldn't seem to find a club to stick with.  His success in MLS landed him a deal with Portuguese side Benfica, but from there his problems seemed to come to the surface.  Benfica's early experiences with Freddy  resulted in him being loaned out for the entirety of his second season with the club, a move that at the time I put down to Europeans not giving the American a fair shake.  His subsequent loans for the following three seasons further solidified my feelings that Freddy wasn't being given a chance to settle down in a single place and show the club how special his offensive talents were.

Then Freddy came back to MLS.  I was SURE that he was going to become a contributor for the Union, and might even regain some of the stardom that had eluded him since his early teens.  I figured an MLS lineup with somebody as skilled as Freddy Adu pulling the strings would have a chance to become an offensive powerhouse, as long as he was used correctly.  But he couldn't even get consistent playing time for the one coach that had had success with him in the past.  He didn't seem revitalized or invigorated by the chance to come home and play in the league it all started, he just seemed like the same guy he was ten years ago.

Now I'm beginning to wonder: is Freddy Adu a big asshole?  It's odd that I had never really considered it as a possible explanation for his failures so far, but it seems increasingly likely that that is the case.  It seems that any club he joins tires of him before too long, and I'm starting to believe that it's because of his personality.  It was easy to imagine a player in his mid teens having a hard time adjusting to a professional work regimen.  It was even easier to just assume that he would grow out of these things as he matured as a player and a person, but that clearly hasn't happened. 

Now Freddy Adu is 24 (maybe), and it's hard to envision exactly what will happen to him next.  With all the young players bursting onto the scene for the USMNT (Mix, Aron, Boyd, etc.), there isn't the same pressure as there was ten years ago to find the great American soccer hope.  Freddy Adu is an embarrassing memory of a time in which we were so desperate for a transformative American soccer player that we were willing to pin our hopes to a fourteen year old.  We as fans might very well have contributed to his ultimate failure, but is there any hope for him?

Something needs to happen to Freddy Adu.  I don't know what it is, but it needs to be something life altering.  He needs to go to Tibet for a year and reflect on his life in silence.  Or go on a charitable mission.  Or have a near death experience.  I don't have any idea what it would be, but something needs to shake Freddy awake to the position his career is in.  He needs to find the motivation to come to work everyday absolutely champing at the bit to improve his defense, or his communication, or whatever lazy crap he pulls that makes every single manager dislike him.  If he can be sufficiently humbled to the point of completely changing the way he approaches the game, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make something of a comeback.

But right now, it's hard to imagine anything like that happening for Freddy.  BUT, I will always remember him fondly as a First XI choice on my all time FIFA team.  So he has that going for him.

Which is nice.