On Friday in Charlotte, N.C., Major League Soccer's D.C. United made 14-year-old Freddy Adu the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. Adu sat down with Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl on Thursday after a tour of the SI building in New York City and discussed such topics as Shaquille O'Neal's stepover moves, his unmatched MLS salary and why you shouldn't have bought that No. 11 D.C. United jersey with Adu's name on the back.

Freddy Adu performed well at the Under-17 and Under-20 world championships. Eric Miller/Getty Images

Wahl: You've always played with older players, and the same will be true with D.C. United. What are the keys to getting off on the right foot?

Adu: I'm going to go in, keep my mouth shut and just listen to the guys. They've been there already. They've done that stuff. So they're probably going to have good advice for me growing up as a soccer player. I have to earn the respect of my teammates and coaches, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to earn that respect. It was the same thing when I got called into the Under-20 team [for the World Youth Championship]. I didn't know more than half of those guys, so I kept my mouth shut and earned their respect.

Wahl: We reported here in November that you would be MLS's highest-paid player at age 14, and that was reconfirmed last week with the public release of the league's salaries by Soccer America. [Adu will make $500,000 annually from his MLS contract.] How do you try and deal with the fallout from that?

Adu: It's going to be hard. I didn't find out the figures had been released until a couple days after it came out. That stinks for me, man. I'm going to have a big X on my back now, because some of these guys have been in the league a long time, and here comes this 14-year-old kid making this amount of money or whatever. It's going to be a lot to bear. But then again, I didn't think it was going to be easy when I was making the decision. And I'm ready for it. There's going to be a lot of mouthing off at me, I know that for a fact, and a lot of hacking. It's fine with me, because that's part of the game. All I've got to do is keep scoring and help my team win, and I'll be fine.

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Wahl: You told me earlier how D.C. United teammate Mike Petke went out of his way to welcome you to the team right after you signed. How did that go?

Adu: He said he was calling me on behalf of all the players at D.C. United, and they wanted to welcome me to the team. He's a class act. That just made me feel warm inside, because I know I'm going to a team where the guys care about me. I've trained with them in the past, and they always treated me fantastically. I'm really excited to be playing with them.

Wahl: What's your reaction to the hiring of new United coach [and former Chicago Fire star] Peter Nowak?

Adu: I'm very fortunate to have a coach like Coach Nowak. First of all, he's been there. He's one of the best players ever to play in MLS. And the guy went pro at 15 years old, so he's already been through what I'm about to go through. I'm blessed to have him as a coach, because he's going to help me through it. I couldn't have planned it any better myself. I've talked to him briefly, and he welcomed me to the team. He gave me a choice of certain numbers I had to pick from, like 22, 24 and others. In the end I got No. 9. I wanted No. 11, but Alecko Eskandarian has that number and he's been wearing it for a while, so he wants to keep it. I understand why. It's his number, and he was there before me.

Wahl: Are you planning on being on the field for D.C. once the season starts?

Adu: Hopefully. I think the chances look pretty good right now. Obviously I'm going to have to earn the right to be on the field day in and day out. That just depends on how I do in preseason and practice, but I'm going to work my butt off and let my play do the talking. I'm not going to worry too much about what happens, if I do or don't play. I just need to do what I do best, which is to play and have fun.

Wahl: I hear you bought a new house for your family in suburban Washington. What's the best part about it?

Adu: It's going to be done in May, but the coolest part about it is the basement. It's beautiful, man. I can hang out with my friends in the basement, play pool, listen to music and dance. It's going to be fun. And my mom [Emelia] has got a huge kitchen now. That's all she wanted. She makes Ghanaian jollof rice, which is my favorite food. It's like a meat stew with tomatoes and rice. Greatest tasting food ever. She'll make spinach stew and yam stew and fufu, which is the most popular food in Ghana. This is all stuff I'm going to be eating a lot at home now, which is awesome.

Wahl: How's your conditioning these days?

Adu: I'm very excited. Because in the Under-17 World Championship [in August, in which Adu had four goals despite an ankle injury] I was playing on one leg. I still don't know how I was able to score those goals, but I couldn't let anyone else know about it at the time. It affected my performance, because I could have done a lot better than I really did. But I'm not complaining. I did what I could do at that point, and I was happy because I gave it my all. Right now I'm healthy. I'm ready to play. I've been away from soccer for a little bit, and I'm ready to come back and start playing again.

Wahl: Who's the most interesting VIP you've met in the last few months?

Adu: Probably Shaquille O'Neal. He said, 'Welcome to the big leagues. I wish you good luck, and I can't wait to see you play.' When I met him, he came out doing stepovers.

Wahl: With a basketball?

Adu: It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. You see this big dude come out with a basketball doing stepovers. It was hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. I thought he was going to slip and fall, but the guy held his own.

Wahl: How's school going? And how is it going to coincide with D.C. United's training camp?

Adu: It's going fine. During training camp I'll go to school in the mornings from 8 to 12:30, and then in the afternoon I'll be training with D.C. United during preseason camp.

Wahl: Will you be joining United for its foreign preseason training too?

Adu: No, I'm not. I'll stay and finish school and get that done with. Because the last thing I want is for me to have to go home and get tutored. I just want to graduate and be free to concentrate on my soccer, because this is a very big step for me, and it's important for me to get off to a good start in my professional career.

Wahl: So you don't plan on missing any of the MLS season for school?

Adu: I don't plan on that. I just want to put full attention toward the first season.

Wahl: You got a ton of media attention from the announcement of your signing with MLS. How has that been for you?

Adu: It's been great. But then again, it's pretty hard not to get caught up in it. Sometimes I have my days off when I get too caught up in it and maybe I'm in a little over my head about stuff. But that's why I have my family and my friends and my agent to remind me of that, you know. I don't want to get caught up in it, as awesome as it is. I just want to have fun with it. I love getting the media attention, because if I didn't get it I'd be worried, really. If you're getting it, that means you're doing something right. I think of it as a compliment to my game.

Wahl: Do you think some people misunderstood the reasons for your signing at 14?

Adu: There's people who said, 'He's too young. He's this and that. He shouldn't have done this.' I've read stuff about it. But it's not for those people to say. I made this decision with the help of my family and coaches and agent. You get to a point where you feel like you need to take it to the next level and push yourself more and see how you fare against better competition. That's how I felt, and now I can't wait to play. For anyone who says that, all I've got to do is get out there and prove to everybody that I belong there. That's it.

Wahl: So do you have a prediction for D.C. United this year?

Adu: 2004 MLS champions, baby!

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl keeps you up to date with the world of U.S. soccer at SI.com.