It was evidently easier to spot a child star in Hollywood 70years ago than it is to help teenage shooting stars make the grade inprofessional soccer today.
Shirley Temple won a Juvenile Academy Award in 1935 for herperformance in ''Bright Eyes’' “ and she had been born in 1928. Freddy Adu andFederico Macheda, apparently wonderfully prodigious talents when they were intheir teens, are finding it a whole lot tougher to make the grade in the men’sgame.
Both Adu and Macheda are gifted. Both were made rich beforethey achieved very much. And both are wondering this week who, if anyone, willtake them on loan and give them a chance of finding a permanent place to applytheir skills.
Adu, born in 1989, is the Ghanaian-American who became theyoungest professional player in Major League Soccer history after he wasdrafted by Washington in 2004. At the same young age, Nike made him amillionaire thanks to an endorsement deal.
He is now 23, unwanted by his latest club, the PhiladelphiaUnion, and available for hire to anyone anywhere who might think he still has acareer in him.
Macheda is the Italian who was plucked by Manchester Unitedaway from Lazio, his boyhood team in Rome, when he was 16. The boy Macheda “still so youthful, so unafraid of the big players on the big stage “ took theplace of the Portuguese player Nani in a game against Aston Villa in April2009. United was trailing, 2-1, at the time, but after another ratherwell-known star (Cristiano Ronaldo) had equalised, young Federico had hismoment.
The boy, still 17, was taken on pre-season tour to theUnited States where he again excelled. His family had moved from Rome to thesuburbs of Manchester, and they all could live comfortably off the contractthat ensures Macheda will receive an income from United, one of the world’smost glamorous clubs, through 2014.
Macheda has turned 21, still no great age in a player. Hehas been loaned to Sampdoria in Italy and to Queens Park Rangers in London.This week he is expected to go out on loan again, to Elche in the Spanishsecond division.
As for Adu, he has become a nomad in search of stability.
He has been shunted from the United States to Portugal,France, Greece and Turkey, often on short-term deals. On Monday, PhiladelphiaUnion, which holds his rights, effectively issued a statement saying he waswashed up there, and anyone willing to relieve the Union of its $500,000contractual obligation could have him anytime they wanted.
No credible future employer had called for Adu till early this week
