1.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 11:09:16
He was no Cherno Samba though, was he?

2.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 11:32:03
Loved reading that Ed cheers! Just shows the importance of managing these kids correctly and keeping their feet planted on the ground.

Do you think he ever had the potential to become a top player? Or was it more a case of usa overhyping and using him as an image to sell football to people?

{Ed001's Note - it was more a case of he was much more physically developed and technically developed than the kids he was up against but he never bothered to work at his game. If he had applied himself, he could have been a top player, yes, but he never bothered. That is why it is very rare that the best kids in the lower age groups are the ones that go on to be the best players as adults. It is usually the ones that have to work harder to catch up, who then go on to surpass the others.}

3.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 12:02:14
What a legend. Him and Lebohang Mokoena smashing them in for me back in the day.

4.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 12:16:03
Ed01, I was in the States when Freddy Adu really started to blow up as a phenomenon. Like many other things in the States, it was all about marketing and to get kids more involved in football esp. since football was not really a REAL sport and to some extent, it still isn't even tho, it is way better than now in terms of recognition and status.

Adu believed in his own hype just like Jozy Altidore before him. I still believe the kid was immensely talented and would have been much better had he gone to Europe to hone his skills, trained harder and been surrounded with better people who really cared about him BUT that was not the goal "they" had for him. Sadly Freddy was a prop who believed in his own hype for years and by the time he was 25 or so, he was damaged goods. Sad.

{Ed001's Note - he had hype because he was good to be fair, he starred in international youth tournaments. As I mentioned in the article, there was an offer on the table for him from Inter Milan as a youngster. The problem was that his mother had given up everything to get the family to the States, so it was far too big a chance to take to move to Europe and have to learn a new language. There was no guarantees for the future for him and his brother going that route.

The problem wasn't just that he believed his own hype, it is that he was then stuck in the US playing against players who simply were nowhere near good enough to push him. It was too easy for him to be better than them, as they were not very good. But he did outshine Messi in youth football.}

5.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 12:19:40
Oh, and what was that scot called? Midfielder, would always turn out to be an absolute beast. Mark something? And the cheat-greeks! Loved them cheat-greeks!

{Ed001's Note - do you Mark Kerr? If so he was part 3 in the series. Not sure what the cheat-greeks is though?}

6.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 12:22:27
Christ fantastic read Ed thanks. Always wondered what happened to him- his career would make a fantastic Will Ferrell film. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where it went wrong but you get the impression the Benfica move was too much too soon. Coupled with the fact he'd had so much hype as a kid, mentally he probably just thought things would happen, and he wouldn't need to do much to achieve them.

{Ed001's Note - I personally think he needed to move earlier to be in a youth system where he actually played with other good players.}

7.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 13:08:23
Possibly yeah to take him out of the comfort zone and challenge himself against better players. Hard to remember they're only kids at that age though and the detrimental effects the wrong decision for that person can have at that stage.

{Ed001's Note - well yes, we can see that as his mother made the wrong decision for his career. Not that it really matters other than he seems lost in life now, but he is still set for life and a multi-millionaire but he could have been so much more.}

8.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 13:13:33
Anyone remember supat rungratsamee?

{Ed001's Note - yes mate, he is on the list. By the way, I don't know if it still is available, but Epic Games were giving away free copies of FM20. It just came up as an advert on the side of the page.}

9.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 13:30:16
Oh my god Rungratsamee! I used to bang on about him to my mates. Unreal acceleration and pace, lethal finishing. A Thai god.

10.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 13:50:00
Ed01, thanks for that part of the info of his mom not being able to afford letting Adu go to Europe as nothing was guaranteed. I do agree that he could not improve while playing in MLS esp. cos at that time, the standard was completely crap. I played in the Regional League in France and my team would have wiped the floor with some of these MLS teams as they were that shocking.

Also, I watched Clint Dempsey play as a rookie under Stevie Nicol at the New England Revolution and you could tell he would make it in Europe cos he was hungry, determined and driven to be the best. Freddy Adu did not have this attitude hence, he failed BUT his mom had a decision to make and I will NEVER question a mom's decision to do what was best for her son and family. There are no easy choices in her position regarding Adu going to Europe. Just unfortunate.

{Ed001's Note - his mam had to choose between guaranteed private schooling and the Nike deal etc or going to Inter Milan and being just another kid in their system. I can understand why she wanted to stay where they where, especially as her family were mostly there in the US with them.}

11.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 15:12:14
Ed001 I used to love the old champ manager games and to be honest I totally forgot about them. Since reading this I’ve just found myself sitting out the back searching for the old footie manager games online as a 38 year old man. I told my wife what I was doing and she looked at me as if she was thinking what a tw#t 😂.

{Ed025's Note - im with your wife JK.. :)

12.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 14:34:40
Yeah it's still available for free on epic games as far as im aware! Unfortunately I don't have the time to play like I used to anymore.

I saw recently mourinho on a zoom/ Skype interview and you could see he had fm2020 installed on his pc! Do you know of any other managers who use the game Ed? I imagine it's popular in the scouting world.

{Ed001's Note - lots of teams around the world use the scouting database, including a few in the Prem (Everton are one for definite).}

13.) 18 Sep 2020
18 Sep 2020 15:43:59
Exactly, Ed01. She took the one choice that was a sure thing rather than send Adu to Inter where at the time, youth development was NOT their thing. That was going to b a disaster for him and the fam, IMO. Think the only guy who came thru there was Obafemi Martins and not sure how "young" he was.

{Ed001's Note - it is a shame because we will never know how good the kid could have been.}