Tipped as the new Pelé, he regrets joining Benfica: huge expectations | OneFootball

Freddy Adu spoke again about his time at Benfica and admitted that today he would probably have made a different decision. The player, who was once hailed as the “new Pelé,” acknowledged that the move to the Clube da Luz might not have been the right step at the time.

“I probably wouldn’t have gone to Benfica,” he confessed in an interview with ‘Mirror US Sports’, recalling the warm welcome he received when he arrived in Lisbon: “I remember arriving at the airport and it was full of Benfica fans waiting for me. It was crazy. I had never seen anything like it, it was an incredible reception.”

Despite the initial excitement, the player ended up having few opportunities to make his mark. The lack of space in the team led to several loans over the following years, something that ultimately affected his development. “At that stage of my career, the most important thing was to play regularly,” he explained.

The American believes that the series of changes didn’t help: “I ended up going from club to club and that makes everything very difficult for a young player,” he said, acknowledging that the instability ultimately hindered the progress that many had expected.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.