Let me tell you, he could have accepted that opportunity and his entire family move to Italy when he was fourteen and he learned the game properly. His earning potential today would have been far greater and he may have been enjoying the same status of some of the young players mentioned earlier? Whay say you ... notice I did not call anyon stupid or anything of the sort, just dealing with facts and ideas?
No,
he couldn't have accepted the offer from Inter because he was only 12 at the time. His mother could have, but she chose not to. Perhaps she understood something that you do not: that only a small minority of youth players actually manage to make it to the first team. And she didn't feel like uprooting the entire family, after they had just arrived in the U.S. only a few years prior, to move to a new culture with a different language to take such a risk.
As far as his "earning potential" goes, he is making €400K per year with Benfica. I can tell you that there are very few 18-year-old players in Italy making a salary like that.
And "could have learned the game properly" is pure nonsense. Have you followed his career lately? This summer at the U-20 World Cup he scored 3 goals in 5 games was considered one of the players of the tournament. So far with Benfica he is averaging a goal every 53 minutes and the Portuguese press can't stop raving about him. I'd say that the way he has learned the game has done him alright so far.
You claim to be dealing with facts, but you sure don't know how to face them.
