Freddy wants Europe … Does Europe want Freddy?

By: Ian Rose | June 7th, 2007

Now that youngster phenom Freddy Adu is neither a youngster (just turned 18) or particularly phenomenal (at least so far this season), he seems to be thinking about a move overseas. On his official website, he says the following about his recent birthday:

“…for the first time i am eligible to transfer to Europe, which is something that has always been one of my career goals. I’m very excited, and hope everything goes smoothly and in the right direction over the coming year.”

That’s right, folks. Year. Singular. It seems that our young midfielder thinks he’s all growed up and wants to jump in the deep end with the big boys. But is he ready? The way this season is going, it looks to be his worst since joining the MLS at 14 years old. He has gone from the undisputed future of American soccer to competing for that title with a more productive, if perhaps less purely talented player in Jozy Altidore, and others are rising to fill the void as well.

Despite his underperforming all season, Freddy is still one of the top fan picks for the All Star Game, which, to me, is not good news for American soccer. In sports like baseball, American football and basketball, name recognition certainly goes a long way in helping a player reach All-star status, but performance matters a lot too. The reason is that fans are paying close attention to how the players are doing, and whether they are helping or hurting their teams. The fans are educated. Now, I know I am talking to some of the more educated soccer fans in the US on this blog, so please don’t take offense, but the way Freddy has played, I don’t think he could be placed in the top ten midfielders in the MLS, and the fact that he’s at the top of the voting has everything to do with name recognition and nothing else.

By the way, Freddy’s not the only one that thinks he has a future overseas. The blog “Because I Think Way Too Much About Soccer” (which needs a shorter name, perhaps an acronym … BITWTMAS) has a poll asking who the next Yank abroad will be, and guess who won. Freddy Adu, with 31% of the votes.

I’m not sure what to think about this. A once-great prospect who has yet to live up to the hype moving from the US to Europe seems a little backward. It’s like a cartoon character once said about Christian rock – it doesn’t make Christianity better, it just makes rock worse. Right now, Freddy needs to improve and become the star he has the talent to be … otherwise, all he will do is make one star-hungry mid-range European team worse, and probably poor.