It's Adu time

There's been a lot of talk about the future of Freddy Adu at Benfica. It seems that almost every week there are articles in the Portuguese media placing Adu out of Benfica. From England to Italy, and now France, Freddy has been one of the favorite targets of speculation by the Portuguese media, perhaps rationalizing that there will be no room for Freddy in Quique's squad, and ass-u-me that Benfica will ship out Freddy to a club where he can further mature. Both England and Italy's interests have "died" down, today it was Monaco's turn to publicly claim that Freddy Adu is too expensive, and does not figure in their plans.

Benfica's season will start on Tuesday with the customary medical exams, and there is no doubt in my mind that Freddy Adu will be there, as excited as he was last summer when he first started his Benfica adventure, but a lot more maturer and much more versed on what it is to be part of a professional soccer team.

With a year under his belt, Freddy has grown as a player and as an individual. Living away from his family for the first time, in a foreign country no less, was a coming of age for Freddy, a step towards adulthood. On the field, his growth was visible to the naked eye, and if there were any doubts about that growth, both Freddy and USMNT coach, Bob Bradley, have been public about his growth and maturity on the field. Freddy has been a permanent fixture on the USMNT, and has earned call up, after call up, regardless of whether he got much playing time during the second half of the season or not.

There are no sure things in life, and realistically, despite my own beliefs, it's too early to tell whether Freddy will make the squad or not. If you ask me, i won't hesitate in saying that he will, but I'm not Quique.
With a new coach, new methods and new style of playing, there are a lot of variables that are thrown into the equation. If the only prerequisite was talent, Freddy would be in.

From what i understand, the squad will not go over 25 players,(it might even be around the 23), but it won't be until the 3rd week of training camp, that the final squad will start to take shape. Which brings us to another issue, with both Freddy and DiMaria being part of their Olympic squads, which would see them out on international duty, as early as the end of that 3rd week(end of July), for a good 4 weeks(depending how deep their teams go), how will this affect Freddy's chances? After all, his exclusions from Benfica's game call up sheets, came after his Olympic Qualifying national team duty. Sure there are many theories out there on why Freddy was excluded from the game rosters, but it all tracks back to that month long absence.
No one on the outside really knows what happened, and with the exception of Chalana claiming that Adu was being left out because of a technical option, there's nothing concrete that explains his omission.
Putting aside the theory that, in his first year, Freddy had a contract stipulation that would see him getting a hefty bonus if he hit the 20 game mark(he played 19), Freddy has a lot to prove to Quique, as he was clearly not part of Chalana's plans in the second half of the season.

One thing is for sure, you can count on Freddy working as hard as he's ever worked, to impress Quique and to win a spot on the team. Behind him, are the novelties of playing for a big club and living in a different country. Proving his worth, on a fresh clean slate, is all that should be on Freddy's mind.

The final roster deadline is August 31st, plenty of time for Freddy to impress Quique, have a good Olympic tournament and make the team. Although the time in which Freddy will be absent is a time when Quique will be fine tuning the team, so a crucial time, whether that will hurt his chances or not, remains to be seen.

Personally, i think he will make the squad and double both his appearances and goal output this year. He is only 19, and Benfica would be the dumbest club in the world to let a talent like Adu go. As far as the loan option, i believe that Freddy is too hot of a commodity to go on loan, but i wouldn't rule out a domestic loan. I think an international loan would not make any sense, as Benfica would be putting a youngster through another adaptation period in another country, which would be detrimental to his development. International loans usually happen when a team is trying to market their player to potential buyers, and this is not where Benfica is with Freddy Adu.

Freddy has publicly stated that he intends to remain at Benfica and his agent has told media inquiries, that Freddy is happy at Benfica and wants to remain with the club.
Come Tuesday, you can bet your ass he will be ready to go, 1 year under his belt and adaptation behind him, it's Adu time!