MLS debut
Shortly after he made his debut in the MLS at the age of 14 with maximum expectations surrounding his figure. The highest paid in the North American league and with a million dollar contract with the sports brand Nike . In the third game he scored his first goal, to the delight of the American fans. He scored 5 goals that campaign. “Being the highest paid had a responsibility to him. He had to go before the games to sign and say hello. It was hard. In the end, at that age you have to play and my teammates were twice my age and I didn’t have much in common with them,” Adu told Sportbible a few weeks ago . In DC United he did not finish starting and after his third season he left for Real Salt Lake City to play until he turned 18 and be able to go to Europe, but he did not stand out in Utah either.
Start at the Benfica
At Benfica he started on the right foot but his star faded. He was not able to demonstrate all the quality and expectation that he had generated. The Eagles had disbursed €1.5M. Before, at the age of 17, he spent two weeks testing with Ferguson’s Manchester United: “I think we would be interested, he is young but we have known him for a long time. We tried to get him here a few years ago, but he signed for DC United and that stopped our progress to keep an eye on him,” Fergie said at the time . After his bad experience at Benfica, he decided that it was better to leave Portugal for another league. And he went to Monaco, but he could barely play. “I made a mistake leaving Benfica. I was better than Di Maria,but there were a lot of distractions in Monaco and I played badly. Another disappointment when she was only 20 years old in her legs. There he chained a series of obscure loans: Belenenses, Aris de Salónica, Rizespor (Turkey)…, in which he did not materialize anywhere.