The United States-based coach who helped Freddy Adu become one of the hottest prospects in world football has warned him to avoid Manchester United and look for a team in the Netherlands. Adu is on trial with Sir Alex Ferguson's team but his coach at DC United said he had gone there on bad advice and told the Ghana-born 17-year-old that the Premiership would overwhelm him."

He's a young kid and he needs matches," said Peter Nowak, the former Poland captain who has been Adu's manager since he signed for the Washington club as a 14-year-old sensation in November 2003. "I think he should go to PSV or Ajax or somewhere they have a tradition of raising young players. At a place like Ajax the young kids come through together and they grow up together; the team is shaped around them. In the biggest environment at the club with the biggest budget it will be hard for them to wait for him to develop. I still feel he needs the minutes and the experience."

Dave Kasper, DC United's technical director agrees : "Does Freddy want to have to go to Watford on a rainy Wednesday where he'll have 6ft 4in goons on his back all night? The Dutch league is a very technical league and he will be better suited for that at his age."

Kasper and Nowak also cast doubts on Adu's mental and physical readiness for a team as big as United. Not only is he just 17, he is physically slight and, they maintain, susceptible to poor advice.