He promised so much but delivered very little despite the hype and buzz around the prodigious Freddy Adu who was then tagged as the biggest thing to happen to American soccer.

Freddy Adu did very little to match his talents that was so fondly spoken about but now in football's abyss he is talking from very deep down that he was a better player when he played at Portuguese side Benfica than the much decorated Angel Di Maria.

Adu and Di Maria were teammates at Portuguese giants Benfica as the fresh faced Angel Di Maria had just arrived in Europe from Argentina in 2007 to begin his European adventure.

Such was his talent that he was compared to the legendary Pele and several sports punters offers odds on his huge future potential with others also giving no deposit bonus for Adu to score in every match.

But how Adu, now 31 years, wish he had done a fraction of what Pele ever did in football.

Adu played for an array of top teams in Europe but never fulfilled his potential that was so much talked about.

The Ghana-born American looks back on an unfulfilled career and laments leaving Benfica for Monaco.

"The biggest mistake I made in my career was being loaned by Benfica to Monaco. If I could have reversed that decision, I would not have accepted the loan," Adu said on the Blue Wire Podcasts.

"I had gone through three coaches in a year at Benfica. There was so much confusion at that club that I think I just wanted to get out of there and go to another team as soon as possible."

"I came to Benfica at the same time as Di Maria. In the first year I was better. I played better than him, but decided to go on loan and Di Maria stayed at Benfica," he explained.

“What happened? He became a starter and one or two years later he went to Real Madrid, while I continued going from loan to loan."

The nomadic forward currently plies his trade at Swedish lower-tier side Österlen Fotbollförening.

He has played for 15 different clubs across the world.