Big things were expected of the United States’ Freddy Adu from a very young age, but he could never fulfil his vast potential despite playing for a host of European clubs.
Now at 31 years of age, Adu looked back at one particular moment of his career where he felt he made a mistake that proved costly to his development.
“The biggest mistake I made in my career was being loaned by Benfica to Monaco. If I could have reversed that decision, I would not have accepted the loan,” Adu said on the Blue Wire Podcasts.
“I had gone through three coaches in a year at Benfica. There was so much confusion at that club that I think I just wanted to get out of there and go to another team as soon as possible.”
Adu explained how he felt he was ahead of Angel Di Maria in the pecking order at Benfica, only for his decision to go out on loan to benefit the Argentine.
“I came to Benfica at the same time as Di Maria. In the first year I was better. I played better than him, but decided to go on loan and Di Maria stayed at Benfica,” he explained.
“What happened? He became a starter and one or two years later he went to Real Madrid, while I continued going from loan to loan.”