Adu signs with Portuguese team

Freddy Adu, the American phenom who was among the highest-profile stars of Major League Soccer, agreed to play for Benfica and trained with the Portuguese club yesterday.

The 18-year-old attacking midfielder arrived in the Portuguese capital Monday to negotiate terms.

"Freddy, when we signed him, was one of most talented young players in the world. I think, today, he still is one of most young talented players in the world," MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis said. "What we’ve struggled with is the expectations, not that we’ve placed on him, but that the media has placed on him."

MLS and Benfica agreed last week to a $2 million transfer fee for Adu, the U.S. captain at the under-20 World Cup in Canada in July. Besides the transfer fee, MLS is in position to gain a percentage of any future transfer of Adu from Benfica to another club, Gazidis said.

Adu signed with D.C. United in 2003 at age 14, becoming the youngest player in the league’s history. Real Salt Lake acquired Adu from D.C. United last year knowing that when he turned 18 last month he would become eligible under FIFA rules to join a foreign club.

Adu missed more than a month of Real Salt Lake’s season while he captained the U.S. team to the quarterfinals of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Adu had three goals and four assists as the Americans went 3-1-1 in the tournament.

Drugs found in Beck’s home

Police found evidence of cocaine and drug paraphernalia at former major-league pitcher Rod Beck’s home on the day he died.

A police report released yesterday indicated evidence in several places at Beck’s house, including the bathroom and the master bedroom in which the 38-year-old Beck, a three-time All-Star who saved 286 games, was found dead at his northeast Phoenix home on June 23.

In a case on the bedroom floor, "four small canisters contained a white powdery residue of suspected cocaine. The larger canister contained a dried paste, commonly used to produce rock cocaine," the report said. They also found a white powdery substance on the roll top desk.

Police also found a loaded semiautomatic handgun in a bag containing numerous glass bowl pipes and torch lighters.

The medical examiner is awaiting results of toxicology tests to establish a cause of death.

Beck’s wife Stacey released a statement about her husband’s death. In it, she discussed her husband’s addiction to drugs, and said she hoped her family’s honesty about the situation would help others dealing with the same problem.

"While we were all deeply saddened by the death of Rodney, he suffered from a debilitating, degenerative brain disease called addiction," she said. "The last three years we have seen this disease progress and destroy the person we knew.

"Unfortunately the details of his death are not pretty or palatable, but those details are merely symptoms of this devastating brain disease. ... Rodney overcame other illnesses and injuries but sadly this brain disease got the best of him."

The police report said Beck called his personal assistant, Tina Buchanan, at 11:57 a.m. on June 23 and asked her to come to his home because he was not feeling well. When Buchanan arrived, she found Beck lying on the master bedroom floor "not breathing and unresponsive," the report said.

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