27 February 2006

Arena: Freddy Needs Time

In an wide-ranging interview with the League Managers Association, Bruce Arena gives his thoughts on all manner of things, such as coaching in the Premiership and the state of US Players. Oh, and some Freddy Adu stuff. Key grafs:

I’m sure that spectators in Germany and TV viewers worldwide would love to see Freddy Adu play in Germany. He’s still a young boy; has this World Cup come around too soon for him or is he in contention?
Freddy Adu is 16 years old. He is making good progress. However, the expectations are a little unreal. He needs time to grow both on and off the field of play.
There’s constant speculation in England that Freddie will join Manchester United or Chelsea. You know him well and know our Premiership well; could he make an impact in England?
Perhaps one day. As I’ve said, he needs time.

Interesting, and I wonder what signal this is supposed to send. While I would not be surprised to see Freddy go overseas after this year, considering he will be 18 in 2007, does is Bruce asking Freddy to stay around for a few more years in the US? Seems that way.