Bidding Adu adieu

Adieu, Freddy.

Following a week of rampant speculation about his possible departure, Real Salt Lake has bade farewell to 18-year-old midfielder Freddy Adu.

Adu, once billed as the potential savior of American soccer, left RSL bound for Europe before the team's 2-1 loss to New England Saturday evening. He is expected to sign with European giant Benfica of Portugal once he arrives.

"There are a great many players in this league that have wanted to go abroad and haven't had the opportunity," said RSL technical director John Ellinger, who coached Salt Lake at the start of the season and had persuaded Adu to move here.

"Being 18, coming off a pretty good (U-20) World Cup, I gotta believe he's just ecstatic about the opportunity."

Team officials said Adu was unavailable for comment.

According to reports, MLS has agreed to a $2 million transfer fee with Benfica for the rights to Adu. RSL will receive a hefty chunk of the fee as allocation money (at least $400,000) that can be used by the club to purchase a player from outside the league.

Ellinger said two or three trialists from South America — a defender, midfielder and forward — will train with Real this week, and that Adu's potential roster vacancy could be used on one of those players.

The Freddy Adu-in-Salt Lake era ends after just 11 appearances by the teenager, who accounted for one goal and two assists in 2007.

When the club traded for him from D.C. United during the offseason, RSL officials said they expected Adu to play in Salt Lake for at least one full season.

However, Adu's departure is hardly surprising, given the overhaul Salt Lake has gone through since that point and given Adu's stellar performance in the recent U-20 World Cup.

Adu, who captained the United States to a place in the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Chip, has repeatedly stated he hoped to eventually move to Europe since entering MLS as a 14-year-old rookie.

Nonetheless, is RSL disappointed it didn't get to have Adu for a full season?

"I'm disappointed for the fans of Salt Lake," Ellinger said. "I think he would've been exciting to watch. He's somebody that opposing teams, even when people judge him to have a bad game, he's still somebody you gotta deal with."