In an interview with the New York Times, Dave Checketts, the owner of Real Salt Lake, reveals that he’s been planning for the arrival of Freddy Adu at his club for quite some time. “When I hired my coach, John Ellinger, two and a half years ago, one of the reasons I hired him was because I knew Freddy wanted to play for him,” Checketts said in a recent interview in his Manhattan offices. “We were thinking about this years ago.” Checketts of course is referring to the coup that brought Freddy Adu to Salt Lake from D.C. United. Adu’s current contract with MLS stands at $500,000 per year, runs through the end of 2007 and includes a 2-year option. Checketts admits that the swoop for Adu was a gamble, particularly because at the time the youngster was telling anybody who’d listen that he wanted to move to Europe. But Checketts believes-as do many-that Freddy isn’t ready to move abroad. “First of all, he’s going to play a lot for us,” Checketts said, adding that hopefully “We’ll see what he’s really made of and what he’ll develop into” at Real Salt Lake.