Freddy Adu on MLS - "I hope they don't do to Jozy (Altidore) what they did to me"

Freddy Adu opens up on his transfer to Benfica, his time in MLS and his own play in a new SI piece out today. Although there are a number of interesting questions in the piece, the part that I'm sure is going to attack the most attention is his take on MLS and their treatment of him.

When asked about how the league created the idea of Adu as savior of American soccer, he says:

I had to be the bad guy after a few years and say: "I'm not doing this appearance. I'm not flying here to sign autographs. I don't want to do it. I have to concentrate on my play. Do you want me to produce on the field or do you just care about what I'm doing off the field?"

And the league understood and was great enough to let me cut back, and from then on the focus has been on getting back to where I used to be. And right now, I can honestly tell you, I am exactly where I want to be.

He is then asked if he was jealous of the way New York's Jozy Altidore became the new young face this past year:

No jealousy at all. What goes through my mind is: "I hope they don't do to Jozy what they did to me" -- with all the hype and everything.

Always interesting to see what the person in the middle thinks of everything going on around him.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]