Teenage sensation Adu chooses MLS
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Adu has been compared to Pele.
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WASHINGTON -- Major League Soccer has scored a victory over some of the world's biggest clubs by signing 14-year-old forward Freddy Adu to a six-year deal.
Adu, who emigrated to the U.S. from Ghana in 1997, is considered to be the most promising young player in the world and had attracted attention from clubs including Inter Milan and Manchester United.
Instead he will make his professional debut for D.C. United, choosing to remain near his home and family in Maryland.
"He is widely considered the best young soccer player in the world," said MLS commissioner Don Garber.
"We believe that playing in his home country, in MLS, will further develop him as a player and, most importantly, as a person."
Adu's signature is a huge boost for the MLS, which has struggled to break into the mainstream U.S. sports market since its launch in 1996.
Many believe Adu, whose skills have already drawn comparisons with Brazilian legend Pele, could be the player to shake Americans' traditional apathy towards soccer.
Adu has already made headlines after signing a $1 million endorsement deal with Nike in May and he will make his first appearance as a professional player on Wednesday's Late Show with David Letterman.
"Not one person in the world soccer industry, from all the naysayers in this country to every major soccer team in Europe, thought that we would sign Freddy," said Garber.
"This says strongly that we are serious about the business of growing soccer in this country."
