THE DAY after Freddy Adu made his competitive debut for Benfica, one Portuguese newspaper likened the teenager to a circus act and questioned whether the Lisbon side had spent £1 million recruiting a professional footballer or merely a novelty act from Major League Soccer.

Hopefully the 18-year-old was spared the full and unforgiving translation. But the reality was the young American had looked painfully out of his depth during a Champions League qualifier against FC Copenhagen, in which he came on as a substitute and attempted two ludicrous overhead kicks from well outside the penalty box.

On Tuesday night, Adu will be at Celtic Park as part of the Benfica squad looking to complete a double over the Scottish champions in the group stages. He may again be limited to some involvement off the bench, just as he was a fortnight ago in the Estadio da Luz, but the world-famous prodigy is starting to have a real impact under the management of Jose Antonio Camacho.

Last Wednesday night, just as Celtic were crashing out of the CIS Cup, Benfica were similarly undone at the same stage of their own Carlsberg Cup, despite the fact that Adu had given them the lead against Setubal. It was his fourth goal in as many weeks.

Camacho, who replaced Fernando Santos after one game in the Bwin Liga, looks as if he could prove the perfect manager to nurture Adu. Only recently, and in limited spells, has the Spanish manager started to introduce Adu to the first team. The result has been some encouraging performances and decisive goals. "There has been some great management by Camacho. He took Adu out of the picture for a while, which took the pressure of him and reduced the unrealistic expectations," said Tom Kundert, of PortuGoal.net, the Portuguese football website.

Unrealistic expectations and Freddy Adu have been in an uneasy alliance for much of his childhood. Born in Ghana, he was eight when his mother won a Green Card Lottery and moved the family to America. By 10 he had been selected to play with the US Olympic Development Program and at 14, with a $1m Nike contract to his name, he made his debut in the MLS.

Successive coaches talked about his bewitching dribbling skills and prodigious talent and there was plenty of that in evidence during Fifa's Under-20 World Cup in the summer, when Adu - captaining the USA - scored three goals.

Still, how could anyone live up to the hype. After seeing his name linked to a host of top European sides, including Inter Milan, Celtic and Manchester United, Adu ended up signing for Benfica in July. The Portuguese media declared the Son of Pele' had arrived.

He is not that. But neither is he a circus act. Under Camacho's guidance, and the influence of Benfica's veteran midfielder Rui Costa, he is starting to flourish. And more time on the pitch, and more goals, are the encouraging early signs of such a protective policy.