MLS at his feet

Questions unanswered for 14-year-old D.C. phenom Adu

By Mike Woitalla, Soccer America

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A loop of Freddy Adu's goals played continuously on a big screen during the Nov. 19 press conference at Madison Square Garden announcing MLS's signing of the 14-year-old prodigy.

National Public Radio reporter Robert Smith was amazed at the quickness of Adu's feet. Then he noticed that the highlight clip was slow-motion footage.

In Adu, MLS has signed a player who dances with the ball and scores dazzling goals. Sometimes he leaves defenders in the dust with a quick change of direction, moving the ball with precision despite running at full speed.

Sometimes defenders lunge the wrong way even before his next touch because they've fallen for a dip of the shoulder or a swing of the hips.

Certainly his age -- "the youngest player in the modern era of professional team sports," boasted MLS -- and the $1 million endorsement deal he inked with Nike in May helped drive the unprecedented publicity the MLS signing received.

By showing his goals over and over during the press-conference proceedings, MLS demonstrated that this really was much ado about something.

Adu is an entertainer. He looks like he's having fun and he's fun to watch. He can thrill an audience whether it has much interest in soccer or not.

"He's an extremely graceful athlete," says U.S. coach Bruce Arena. "He's a player with an excellent first touch and great vision. He has very good attacking qualities. But we've seen him in what I would call an amateur level."

So will Adu be able to sparkle among the pros?

"There's probably going to a be a little bit of a period where he gets stymied," Arena says. "He'll have to deal with some difficult times. That's to be expected. That happens to experienced players at the professional level as well.

"How he deals with it and the kind of support team he has around him will be important."

RESENTMENT. And how will other MLS players deal with Adu? A good number of grizzled veterans make a fraction of what Adu will earn.

MLS has been tight-lipped about the six-year contract. Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis, who called Adu "the best young player in the world," says only that Adu is "definitely not" the highest paid player in the league. That Adu will earn at least $2 million over the length of his contract is not a far-fetched estimate.

"There's a lot of resentment," says an agent who represents several MLS players. "They see it as a 14-year-old kid who hasn't proved himself making a lot more money than guys who have been producing for years. But the anger is not directed at Freddy. The resentment is aimed toward the league."

Adu is by all accounts an extremely likable young man. Whether that's enough to keep some $40,000-a-year defender from "kicking little Freddy into the stands" -- as one coach puts it -- is something we'll have to wait and see.

"Can I get a raise if I balance the ball on my head on the Letterman Show?" Jeff Agoos, winner of five MLS titles, jokingly asked Don Garber when they shared the podium during the pre-MLS Cup 2003 press conference.

Garber didn't answer, but he may have well said, "Yes." MLS is willing to invest more in players who give it national attention.

CLOUT. Mark Noonan, MLS's executive vice president who oversees marketing, believes "never let your marketing get in front of your product. It comes together in a player like Freddy Adu."

Adu could improve the product -- and he's brought MLS the biggest avalanche of publicity since its inauguration.

Moreover, Adu has clout that other MLS players don't. He's impressed scouts from all over the world.

The league may have overstated the fact that Adu turned down major foreign clubs for MLS. FIFA regulations don't allow European clubs to sign foreign players under 18. The loopholes to circumvent the regulation -- such as moving the family -- would likely be unappealing for a boy who emigrated from Ghana to Maryland with his family just seven years ago.

Still, Adu would eventually have to choose between MLS and Europe. Now MLS no longer has to fear him slipping away, and Adu can play professionally next season while staying near family and friends in the Maryland area.

CHALLENGE. D.C. United will draft him first in the 2004 SuperDraft, Dallas having agreed to trade its No. 1 pick with for a major allocation.

Yes, D.C. United. A dysfunctional team that hasn't had a winning season in four years. It fired Coach Ray Hudson less than a month after the Adu signing.

"It's difficult for D.C. United in that they've struggled for the last four years," says Arena, "and this is going to be another challenge for them on a daily basis because there's going to be so much scrutiny over what they're doing with Freddy.

"It's probably fair to say, from a distance right now, that he's not going to be ready to play right away. And therefore what kind of environment they're going to have for this arguably extremely talented player in helping him develop will be crucial. And that is a challenge for the entire league.

"MLS has now gone into the business of player development, which is Freddy Adu, as opposed to the other players they've brought in through the college system or whatever. Those were players whose identities were already established for the most part.

"Here's a young guy with everything ahead of him who needs an environment where he can blossom. That's a real challenge on the league and a nice burden for D.C. United to have. It will be interesting to see how they deal with it."

Mike Woitalla is executive editor at Soccer America magazine.