Whatever happened to Charlie Adam?

Despite past successes at Liverpool and Blackpool, Charlie Adam may consider last season at Dundee as his most successful.

In July 2011, the Mail on Sunday’s Chief Sports Writer Oliver Holt tweeted ‘Aguero will be the highest profile signing of the summer so far if it happens, still think Charlie Adam to Liverpool could be best though’.

Every single one of us has made a prediction that proved to be well off the mark but with Sergio Aguero now departing Manchester City after a decade of impeccable service that tweet magically resurfaced.

It also garnered attention because Charlie Adam himself replied to the tweet in March when it was confirmed Aguero would be leaving.

“I think he did ok in the end,” responded the former Liverpool midfielder.

All of that begs the question this week – we all know what happened to Aguero but what happened to Adam?

Well, the midfielder has recently enjoyed successes of his own – if you’re a fan of Scottish football then you probably know that already – but if not then here is what the former Premier League man has been up to.

Adam’s career started at Rangers and, following a couple of loan spells, he broke into the first team in the 2006-07 season and was voted as the club’s Young Player of the Year.

However, his game time after started to decrease and he eventually transferred to the club where he truly made his name – Blackpool.

The 2009-10 Championship season, with Ian Holloway as manager, is well-documented for what Blackpool achieved as they were promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs against the odds.

Adam had been a revelation all season and scored a free-kick in the play-off final against Cardiff as Blackpool won 3-2.

But his form didn’t stop there. Despite Blackpool’s Premier League season ultimately ending in relegation back to the Championship, the Scot was one of seven nominees for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year.

Then came that move to Liverpool, with Adam’s stock at an all-time high, but it just did not work out at a time when the Reds were in a difficult position themselves.

Even though they did win the League Cup under Kenny Dalglish, they finished eighth that season in their joint-lowest Premier League finish since 1994.

After just one season with the Reds, Adam was off to Stoke City on August 31, 2012, in a deal worth around £4million.

The midfielder would ultimately go on to make 179 appearances for The Potters in seven seasons – including highs but also the low of relegation to the Championship in 2018.

His time at Stoke soon came then to an end after a year in the second tier and he spent the 2019-20 season with Reading.

But, in September 2020, after training on his own and considering offers in Australia, Adam joined his boyhood club Dundee – and that’s where you’ll find him now.

He described the move as a dream and now, at the age of 35, he has just captained them back to the Scottish Premiership.

On Monday evening the club saw off Kilmarnock in the promotion and relegation play-offs with Adam calling it the best moment of his career.

“I dreamed of playing for my boyhood club in the top division and we’ve managed to get them there,” he said, as reported by The Courier.

“Just to play for the club was special for me. But to then have the opportunity to get promoted? It’s what dreams are made of.

“It probably won’t sink in until I sober up in midweek! Then I’ll realise what’s going to happen. Right now I’m just dying for next season’s fixtures to come out.

“This is my club. I stood on the terraces watching this team. It is an incredible feeling.”

It just goes to show that for so many players there is nothing better than succeeding with the club you grew up adoring.

You can follow Alasdair on Twitter at @adjhooper1992