You would've been hard-pressed to find a more excited person at Freddy Adu's introductory press conference Tuesday than Real Salt Lake forward Jeff Cunningham.

"When I heard he was coming, I smiled because that's at least 10 more goals. He's the real deal," said Cunningham, who scored a league-high 16 goals in 2006 and was a finalist for MLS MVP. "It's like a wide receiver having a great quarterback."

And so it begins.

The Jazz flourished under the familiar phrase Stockton-to-Malone for more than a decade, and they're doing the same now with Williams-to-Boozer. With Adu joining RSL, sports fans might soon be shopping for cars at Adu-to-Cunningham Toyota.

"I just can't wait to be in the middle of the field and passing balls up to (Jason) Kreis and Cunningham," said Adu at a press conference at the Grand America Hotel. "Hopefully, Cunningham scores 30 goals with me feeding him the ball."

Cunningham is just one of thousands of Utahns ecstatic that RSL completed a trade Monday with D.C. United to acquire Adu — the 17-year-old phenom who joined Major League Soccer at age 14.

Adu is thrilled because he's being reunited with RSL coach John Ellinger, his coach with the U.S. youth national team for 3 1/2 years in Bradenton, Fla.

"While I was down there, I played the best soccer of my life, and hopefully that will be the case here," said Adu.

Ellinger is excited because he's added the premier up-and-coming star in the United States, the type of quality attacking midfielder that will enable him to use a 3-5-2 formation in 2007.

Sure Adu will likely end up playing soccer in Europe someday, perhaps as early as 2008, but Ellinger isn't fretting that scenario.

"You never know what's going to happen, but right now he's here and that's all that matters," he said.

Adu's teammates also are happy, if for no other reason than he might be the missing piece to securing a playoff berth in 2007.

"Freddy has shown in the past two years moments of brilliance, and we're going to ask more of him, we're going to ask for 90 minutes of brilliance week in and week out," said Kreis.

Then there's Real Salt Lake's marketing and ticket sales staff. It's hard to imagine them not benefitting from acquiring arguably the most famous soccer player in the country.

Lastly, there's RSL's loyal fans. Freddy mania has gripped MLS since he joined the league in 2004, and it won't be long until you see kids wearing Xango No. 11 Freddy Adu jerseys around town. That's right, Adu has already convinced new teammate Chris Brown to give up his No. 11 jersey, "for the price of a (PlayStation 3) of course," said Adu.

Adu's happiness is what might ultimately lead to happiness for all.