He was an American Prodigy. The next Pelé. The savior of U.S. Soccer. But he wasn’t even old enough to drive. In 2004, Freddy Adu joined MLS at 14 years old becoming the youngest American pro athlete in 100 years. His story is a tale of talent, money, fame and futbol. Soccer journalist Grant Wahl retraces the legend of Freddy as he went from superstar to one of the biggest “what ifs,” asking, what determines who “makes it,” who “doesn’t,” and what does all of it say about us?

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When Nike signed thirteen-year-old Freddy Adu to a million dollar contract, they thought he could be bigger than Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and LeBron James. As it turned out, however, Freddy never lived up to the hype. Soccer journalist Grant Wahl investigates the impossible expectations that were placed on the teenager, and discusses with Freddy just how much of the blame lies on the media, MLS, and Freddy himself.

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In the streets of Ghana, Freddy played with boys twice his age. In the D.C. suburbs, Freddy went from playing at recess to dominating travel tournaments all within a week. Just six months into his stay at the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida, Freddy was at the top of the class. He had teams in England, Italy, Spain and America salivating as they waited for him to turn pro. That was before he dominated the FIFA U-17 World Championship. Grant Wahl knew it was time for Freddy to sign, but where?

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Freddy stepped off the stage of his introductory MLS press conference and right onto The Late Show with David Letterman. Before Adu had even played a pro game, MLS promoted its fresh-faced teen superstar with commercials alongside Pelé, feature stories and magazine covers in order to save a league in desperate financial straits. Freddy Mania put butts in the seats for the 2004 season, but it also set expectations unbelievably high. No one even knew if he was going to start games. Grant Wahl watched the pressure mount, wondering: “Can Freddy handle the hype?”

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Not even Freddy was ready for the passionate response to him from Black Americans, many of whom had rarely engaged with MLS or soccer before. American soccer has long been a country-club sport—largely white and upper-middle-class—but Freddy's race, potential and extreme youth helped make him a cultural touchstone who transcended sports. They also left him virtually alone in locker rooms full of white men old enough to be his father. Grant Wahl saw a teenager constantly surrounded by media, teammates and fans, but was he really connecting with any of them?

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Freddy Adu had a million dollar smile. He flashed it on the field when he beat defenders twice his age. He showed it for the media when he gave interviews and posed for photographs. And he turned it on as D.C. United got hot down the stretch and made a push for the 2004 MLS Cup. But Grant Wahl noticed that as Freddy’s rookie season wore on, the 15-year-old's smile began to fade. Was the pressure that Freddy felt finally getting to him?

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After a championship-winning rookie season, anything seemed possible for Freddy. Yet over the next 14 years, Freddy would play for more than a dozen teams in MLS, Europe, South America and the USL, slowly turning from an American Prodigy into a cautionary tale. Short flashes of success in summer tournaments provided flickering glimpses of hope that Freddy would gain traction and turn into a superstar. But Adu could never establish consistency at the club level. Grant Wahl watched Freddy struggle to build momentum in his career as it faded away. What went wrong?

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It’s been two years since Freddy played competitive soccer, but at age 31 he’s still trying to make a comeback, even as he teaches the next generation. Today is a new world in American soccer, where the best prospects leave for Europe and developmental academies stateside grow to provide support for America’s next prodigy. What happens to the next Freddy Adu? Are we ready for the next American Prodigy? Are they already here? Grant Wahl examines.

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