Why If Freddy Adu Leaves For Spain, I Never Want To See His Face Again

When walking around PPL near the end of the season I’d laugh at the people who bought Adu jerseys. You had to know. He’s a big player in name only, and if he leaves again, that will greatly diminish his “name.” We don’t need the guy, based on his record from last year.

I bet he’ll stick around now, just to stick it to everyone. I doubt he’ll make us eat our words.

Dude, you sound kind of like a jilted lover. I know it may sting a bit every time a player expresses desire to leave the MLS and play in europe, but them’s the breaks. If he were to join them now, he would get a chance at playing Madrid and Barcelona, and that is a pretty tantalizing proposition for a player.

As for all the “passion” business, I think that has more to do with Freddy’s general desire to play in Spain and a “grass is greener” notion. I’d wager that he cares much more about playing in the best league in the world against the world’s two best teams than a difference of 5,000 people in the stands.

you are most probably right is what Adu is thinking. I do not blame him, but love the passion with which Alscaz writes, and he’s right…screw Freddy if he doesn’t want to be here. It’ll only give me more hope if Freddy goes and succeeds…cause he ain’t all that here at all…he couldn’t even be a regular starter here in MLS.

That would bode well for other players to get a shot.

I really don’t care if a player wants to be here or not. If he’s here and does well, i’ll cheer. If he’s here and plays like he doesn’t want to be here…look out.

of reading about Freddy Adu. We just drafted three new players. Let’s celebrate those guys.

Great read and well written but unjustly harsh. I agree that leaving would be a mistake for Freddy and I agree that he hasn’t lived up to name nor contract. However, if you remove hype and money, Adu did well last year givin the circumstances. I don’t want to overstate his play, he had games where he was invisible for long stretches of time, but he also had games where I thought he was our best player and clearly showed just how skillful he is. I would like to see him have a full season with the club and a full preseason building raport with teammates. Then we will have a much more true sense of where he stands, but until then he doesn’t deserve lavish praise nor does he deserve lavish critizism.

As far as a Union stand point it is really win-win. He stays and hopefully he develops into a valued member of the team and if he goes he will bring a large transfer fee that could be used to fill other needs.

I wouldn’t blame him if he goes to play in la liga, even if it is a lesser side. Especially if he feels the style of the league is more suited to his skillset.

Quick side note: I don’t think attendance is a great judge of passion. It is certainly a metric, but one of many.

Love the passion though Scott, it’s what is lacking most in MLS coverage compared to the other sports.

I’m okay with saying this.. why?

Take a step back and think for a second:
1) Any player who doesn’t say to the media that they are honored to just practice with a team, would be told to leave the second he’s done the interview. Why? They don’t HAVE to let him practice or trial with them.
2) Yes, we have 18k show up to every game. They only have 12k due to stadium. What he is talking about is the practices. Do we have open practices? I don’t know, but they practice completely out of the way for me and at a time i have a job for me to bother. As opposed to most European areas where they probably let fans in, and say, maybe 500 to 1k fans show up. Pretty sure we’d only max at 500, and that wouldn’t be consistent. Hell, we don’t even play in the city their named for!
3) To note, PAID attendance of the monsoon was 15k. Bystanders would agree that there weren’t that many in the stands. There weren’t that many by the end of the game either. Were you there? Or just reading stats.
4) When Freddy came into the MLS, it was a build up league. His viewpoint is still as such. It still is for every american who goes to europe. Here’s a flow chart:
Lesser Latin American countries and Caribbean > America (probably to get out of where they are in the first place) > Europe. It’s a basic formula. We’re only above most leagues because of the countries they are in and the political and harsh environments.

You’re not complaining about Marfan practicing overseas – he only played here a year, and this own site has “rumors” of him “trialing” and not just off season practice.

If we can make money off of Adu, then I think our FO should all be featured in The Wire. What a hustle that would be!
If we sell to Spain, let’s make sure they pay us in real money.

Everyone seems to forget that while this may be a passion or a hobby for us, Soccer is how Freddy Adu earns his living. At 14 years old he was the highest paid player in MLS and was worth millions from endorsements. So, since the age of 14, Freddy has become accustomed to a certain quality of life. Remember, a soccer player only has a limited amount of time to earn there living. Yes he may be young but he is 1 horrific injury away from never playing again.

Rayo may be a small club, on the verge of relegation from La Liga, but I assume the pay he would make there would be signifigantly more then here in MLS. Also, succeding there as opposed to succeding in MLS would put him in a better positionto earn even more money with another club in La Liga or in Europe.

Tim Ream makes $65K a year playing for NYRB. If his transfer goes through to Bolton, he will be making $1.9M a year. That is 30 TIMES what he makes in MLS.

If any of you had the oppurtunity to leave your current employer for 30 TIMES your current salary, then I think 95% would do it (not saying that is the % that Freddy’s salary will rise, just making a point). I don’t blame Freddy, I’d do the same. I would be cordial and thankful in interviews and try my best to better my own personal situation. I feel there are benefits and detriments to him staying or leaving.

Ok, I am kinda on both sides of this issue. I can see Freddy wanting to go to Europe to play, and I get that I really do. But I think the problem that many of us have is that he is not going to a big respected club. While Bolton is having problems this year, it is a team that has consistently done well in the EPL, and is performing poorly this year mainly due to injuries. If Michael Farfan went to Sunderland, while I would be sad to see him go, I would respect that. If Freddy went to a club like Villareal or Valencia, I could respect that too. To me this seems more like a lateral move, or a step down than an improvement of his position here with the Union.

That neither loves nor hates Freddy Adu, and from someone that read his interview quotes before they were dissected in this article… My first reaction to his quotes were also negative. I get that you want to be gracious to your Spanish hosts, but the things he said makes it seem like he can’t wait to get away from the MLS and away from the Philadelphia Union which is unprofessional and disrespectful in my opinion. Additionally, I think he’s either extremely egotistical or just delusional about where he is at skill wise and soccer wise because he only showed occasional glimpses of great soccer during his short time here. If he was as good as his attitude and comments suggests he thinks he is, he would have dominated the competition in every game and easily separated himself as the best player on our team. Why you would want to rush back to Europe after getting chewed up and spit out is beyond me, especially after he wasn’t even the best player on our team, let alone the best player in the MLS this year. Whats more, the humble and “coming back to learn” (something like that) speech we heard from him after the Union burned a pick for him was clearly disingenuous and his time here now seems to have been little more for him than a paycheck between “jobs”… So honestly I agree with the author, let him go and don’t welcome him back.

I have no idea what provoked this tirade. Certainly Freddy Adu’s quotes did not warrant this. He has not said anything negative in the article about the Union or MLS. He is quoted as saying he wanted stability, yes, but also that he would only return if he could play in a top 5 league. Despite its improvements, MLS is not a top 5 league. If you get a chance to play in La Liga, whether it’s for Rayo or Real Betis or whatever other team, surely you would take it??? And seeing as how Rayo is the club that gave him a trial in training, it would appear they are the most likely avenue for him to return to Europe. You can’t blame him for wanting to play in La Liga. Fans on here claiming Union to Rayo would be a lateral move need to step away from their bias for their club just a tad. I admire the passion, but that is simply not true.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, this was just training. Of course he’s going to say good things about the team he’s training with. And you forgot to quote another part of the article

“This is not the first flirtation between Adu and Rayo, though. The club expressed interest in bringing in the Maryland native last summer following his Gold Cup performance. Those talks fell through, but when U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann publicly urged MLS players to look for training time in Europe during the offseason, the two sides reconvened and agreed on the 10-day session, which ended on Jan. 6.”

He’s training with the side not only to try and play in a top 5 (top 2, more accurately) league in the world, he’s also trying to please his new national manager.

I’m just reading your latest response, and I think it’s a much more level-headed post. I don’t think Freddy was insinuating Philly fans aren’t passionate. Far from it. But you can’t compare American soccer culture to that in Europe, even if we are improving greatly. You quote the attendance stats, but I think it says quite a lot that the third team in Madrid gets over 10,000 a game, despite being just promoted this season. The Union don’t have to compete with Real or Atletico for fans. Also, Cristina Pedroche is a Rayo fan. Google her, it’s worth it.