I ain't exactly a big fan of Freddy himself, the path his Mother chose for him or the way that mls msl misled and nike exploited the young fella and I really think he has a whole lot of learning to catch up on.
Yes, Nike certainly exploited him.
When he came over to the States from Ghana with his family and they didn't have a pot to piss in the horrible tyrants at Nike paid him $1 million to -- that's right -- advertise soccer gear!
It's almost worse than working in the diamond mines of South Africa! Oh, the exploitation!
I guess your levitated state of conciousness for the suffering Africans in those diamond (or gold or silver) mines have had you suffer to pass up on purchasing jewelry on a whole, has it? I guess poor Freddy would have been contributing to our collective vanity here in the good old usa had it not been for the Department of Justice and it's life-saving lottery, eh? Good for you, good for him. The "path" I talk about that his mother chose for Him that I have the slightest bit of issues with, was passing up on all of the offers from European clubs that little Freddy was getting before the mls msl misled came knocking on their door. She claimed that she preferred for Freddy to stay in the us because she wanted him to receive an "education." He got an education alright. In PR. (and I don't mean "Puerto Rico.) Freddy's career wout have been far further advanced had he joined up with one of the youth academies that were calling for him.
Lol...
Well, I also disagree on the whole "Nike exploited him" thing. Nike saw in him a unique opportunity to latch onto a hot, young player in a sport growing in dominance. It was a smart bet at the time, that unfortunately didn't pan out. Freddy was given the opportunity to be the face of US Soccer (perhaps at too young an age) and tremendous entre into the world of both celebrity, and celebrity endorsement. By his own accord the experience has prepared him well for the global stage...and then there's that little thing about the extra dollars in his pockets too. Hardly the stuff of exploitation if you ask me.
Where I do agree with you is that the opportunity to learn and grow within the Inter Milan system 6 years ago would likely have developed his talent exponentially compared to where he is now. As much as I understand why any mother would not want to dispatch her 12-year old son and trust him to strangers half a world away...I think she received poor advice from her trusted cadre at the time.
Hear what I'm saying: I doubt seriously that nike entered into their little marriage with Freddy for benevolent reasons (no matter the $1M contract he got from nike, I'm sure they projected to earn much, much more from the deal themselves.) When Freddy was.......discovered, everybody and they momma was lining up to jump on Freddy's bandwagon (fifa and all!) and while Freddy is always going to benefit from all the hype and publicity, the people that are/were jumping on his bandwagon weren't necessarily doing it to "help Freddy"
Granted, he was "given the opportunity....to be the face of the
mls" (
msl misled) but even the most ardent of their fans HAD to know that, for all his prodigy, it was a responsibility that Freddy's shoulders would have been a little too narrow to take on...........at that time. I applaud the fact that Freddy has forged his way through his challenges (remember his disastrous outing at his previous appearance at a Youth World Cup in 2003) and I even give credit to his mother, but at the very least, nike was being very opportunistic (as well I expect them, adidas or any of the major "brands" manufacturers to be) in their dealings with him. I was just belching out from having drunk my nike hatorade this morning.
The "path" I talk about that his mother chose for Him that I have the slightest bit of issues with, was passing up on all of the offers from European clubs that little Freddy was getting before the mls msl misled came knocking on their door.
FIFA does not allow the international transfer of children. That's why he had to wait until his 18th birthday to transfer to Europe.
And you still didn't explain how Nike is "exploiting" him.
BTW - since when does the Dept. of Justice run the Green Card Lottery? 
......so I guess that means there are no foreigners taking residence in any or many of the football academies around the world? Read my statement again, carefully this time, and check out your facts.
.....at the time that Freddy's Mom had won her lottery to gain entry into and resident status within this country, the lottery itself was overseen by what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service. That department was overseen by the Department of Justice. Does that answer your question now?
