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Report: 13-year-old agrees to $1 million Nike deal


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Report: 13-year-old agrees to $1 million Nike deal

May 26, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thirteen-year-old soccer prodigy Freddy Adu agreed to a $1 million contract with Nike, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Adu, already an offensive star on the U.S. under-17 national team, also has agreed to be represented by SportsNet, LLC.

Arnold Tarzay, a lawyer and family adviser, did not confirm the amount of the deal to the Post, which cited sources for the worth of the multiyear contract. The paper said Adu is not likely to sign a pro contract for at least a year.

Nike spokeswoman Celeste Alleyne did not comment to The Associated Press. A call to a representative of the U.S. under-17 team was not immediately returned.

The agreement comes less than a week after Nike signed high school phenom LeBron James, the expected No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, to an endorsement contract worth more than $90 million.

Adu would become ineligible for NCAA soccer with this deal, but he does not plan to play in college.

A native of Ghana, Adu came to the United States when he was 8 and has been training with the national team in Bradenton, Fla. He became a citizen in February.

Adu played for the under-17 team that lost to Mexico 2-1 in Lancaster, Calif., on Sunday.

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Originally posted by xlr8ed

Thats probably the best 1mil Nike has ever spent.. Nike will get tons of worldwide exposure from him. Compared that to the 90mil they spent on Lebron, to get only national exposure....

I agree.... soccer is far more popular world wide than the NBA...

Look at Mia Hamm.... she's known everywhere:D

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not necessarily true. if lebron becomes the marketing machine that michael jordan has become, then nike made a good deal. of course it took a combination of nike, mcdonalds, general motors, wheaties, hanes, coca-cola, gatorade(quaker oats), along with the explosion of the league for everyone to recognize jordan's appeal and marketability. we'll just have to wait and see with lebron.

how often do young sports prodigies, and i mean 12-14 really end up living to their full potential?? very few. chris weber, stephon marbury, keyshawn johnson are a small number of child prodigies that come to mind.

anyone remember the basketball documentary of them two kids from indiana, who they started following from like 7th grade?? one ended up playing at marquette, the other flipping burgers. think of all the little world series phenoms, that just happened to have developed quicker, but once most contemperaries catch up, just exceed them in talent. nicole kaczmarski couldn't even secure a starting role with ucla, when in 8th grade was crowned queen of women's basketball.

its tough to tell with soccer though. especially with american soccer. the US has never really truly had a rinaldo, pele, maradona, baggio, rivaldo or the like, where with those guys, their countries saw their potential early on. so we'll see. i wonder if US soccer thinks this kid is going to single-handedly save US soccer and maybe some in the next 3-4 world cups get them a championship.

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btw, i saw this kid today on sportscenter and i must say, he is the real deal! wow!! the way he moved with the ball was phenomenal. :eek: there is speculation though that he might not have been born in 1989 and that he might actually be older. he certainly didn't speak like an average 13 year old, thats for sure. but this boy can PLAY!

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yeah, he's originally from ghana i believe or nigeria. lots of issues with false documentation in those countries. anyway, he's good, although to tell you the truth there's a number of african players with similar characteristics that are very good allthough not world caliber. jay-jay okocha, finidi george and in his time abedi pele come to mind.

he's still young though and he has the potential. i can see him playing in the MLS in a couple of years for 2 years before making the jump to a european team where he could polish off his skills and playa gainst the worlds best on a weekly basis.

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