Remember Freddy Adu? Of course you do. In 2004, he was the 14-year-old who was seen as the future of the game in the United States and a potential new global star. The subject of gargantuan hype when he made his Major League Soccer bow in April of that year for DC United, Adu still holds records as the youngest player and goalscorer in the MLS's short history and is also the youngest player to appear for the senior US team. The chances are you caught more than a fleeting glimpse of Adu in those early days. His name was everywhere on the internet, as were highlights of his goalscoring exploits for DC and for the US in Fifa youth tournaments. On the pitch, he was raw but also fast and skilful - off it, he was commercial gold and a $1m sponsorship deal with Nike was among several endorsement deals that swiftly followed. Five years on, it is an awful lot harder to see him in action, unless you fancy a replay of those YouTube clips. Cruelly dubbed 'Freddy Adieu' by some, Adu has had a frustrating time since moving to Europe two years ago but, as I found out, any shortcomings he might have as a player are not the only reasons why his career has stalled. Adu is now 20, an age where most players are just starting to make a name for themselves. Conversely, his biggest problem is that he has been famous since he was a boy and, whatever your thoughts are on his ability, that reputation - not to mention marketability - has arguably hindered his development more than helped it. In 2006, all seemed well. Adu made his senior international debut at the age of 16, coming on as a substitute for the US against Canada in January, and, despite rumours of a fall-out with DC coach Peter Nowak over his best position and his lack of application in training, the attacking midfielder played in all 32 of their league matches before featuring in the MLS All-Star game for the best individual performers that season. By the end of that year, he had a brief spell training with Manchester United before, perhaps surprisingly, joining another MLS franchise, Real Salt Lake City. The following summer, he turned 18, allowing him to make his dream move to Europe and join Portuguese giants Benfica for around £1m. Sadly for Adu, this is where his career began to unravel. He played just 129 minutes of league football for Benfica in 2007/08, with his only two starts for the club coming in cup games, and was loaned to French side Monaco for 2008/09 - again, he hardly featured, except from off the bench. This summer, he asked for another loan move and almost joined Danish side Odense before moving across Lisbon to Belenenses, a club that are perhaps a bit like Adu - a big name but have had a few lean years. It was at this point that I tried to track Adu down. I know I'm not the only one interested in his progress, or lack of it - at the last count his Twitter account had more than 135,000 followers - and it was through one of his Tweets that I found out my interview request had been successful. Not that I managed to speak to him. Instead, I received a fax of two sides of neatly-written A4 paper containing the answers to the questions I had emailed his club. Not ideal, as normally it is difficult to grasp the character of a player without talking to him. However, in Adu's case, two things still shine through - optimism and determination. He needs those qualities too. Adu's move to Belenenses has brought him more frustration rather than the game-time which he craved. Although this season has seen him make his first league start since moving to Europe, when he faced Nacional on 12 October, he has only made two other substitute appearances and, of late, he has struggled to even make their 18-man match-day squad even though his new club are third-bottom of Liga Sagres with just one win all season. This, clearly, was not part of the plan. As Adu told me last week, he joined Beleneses "because I needed to be on a team that gave me the best chance of playing consistently and because it gives me the best chance of making the US team for next summer's World Cup. I can make the World Cup team if I play regularly here and well."