A funny thing happened during our lunch break. After perusing the Post and reading about how Freddy Adu is gearing up for the upcoming D.C. United season (and how his play with the club team will affect his status on the US National Team, which is preparing for this summer’s World Cup), we headed over to Deadspin where they linked to an article in The Times Online reporting that “agreements are imminent with the player and Major League Soccer (MLS),” referring to Adu and a rather large contract to play for Chelsea. According to The Times Online, Adu could be in London as early as this summer.

Dan Segal of SportsNet LLC, one of Adu’s agents, would neither confirm nor deny the reports. “All I would like to say at this stage is that Freddy has obviously attracted a lot of interest internationally,” Segal told The Times Online. “We are mindful of the fact that he will turn 17 in the summer. At this stage, nothing has truly been decided.”

United supporters will no doubt recall Adu’s turbulent 2005 season which included him berating his coach for not getting enough playing time. If that is Adu’s gripe with United and MLS and he still wants to play for the National Team, it’s hard to see how a switch to one of the deepest and most talented teams in the English Premier League will remedy that situation. Bruce Arena said as much earlier this week; “The route to the national team is through his club team, not being with the national team,” Arena said in a telephone interview. “All these guys with the national team are regulars with their club teams. That’s the next step for Freddy, which is going to be difficult because D.C. has a lot of talented players.” That goes double for Chelsea.