With the departure of Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal looking more and more likely for a fee of around £25 million, I wonder what Arsenal fans feel about the news.
Unplayable
Adebayor has had two and a half seasons at the Emirates and to an outsider he has looked to be completely unplayable at times. With pace, power, heading and finishing ability he has looked the complete package.
Despite that, I have read comments from Arsenal fans that suggest many would be pleased to see him move on. In fact, in one recent article I read Adebayor was voted by Arsenal fans as their, ‘biggest waste of space’. To finish ahead of Eboue and Bendtner in that poll, he must have seriously upset you gooners!
Silverware
The twenty-five year old Togo international striker has played a total of one hundred and forty three games for Arsenal since moving to the club from Monaco in January 2006. He has found the net on sixty-two occasions but has been unable to help the club lift any silverware.
Individually, Adebayor has been selected in the ‘team of the year’ by his fellow professionals in 2007-08, won the goal of the seasson award that same season and been named the African footballer of the year. For Togo, he has scored sixteen times in thirty-eight appearances.
Crucial
It is clear that Adebayor is a very talented striker and he has scored some crucial goals for Arsenal in all competitions. He has scored goals to beat Tottenham and Manchester United and he has scored goals in Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals. Last season he scored hat-tricks at home and away to Derby County making him the only player to ever score home and away hat-tricks in the same season against the same opposition.
Last season Adebayor was plagued by injury but still managed to contribute sixteen goals in thirty-eight appearances, including six in nine Champions League games.
Gem
To an outsider then it looks like Arsenal have got a real gem of a striker who they would be doing everything they possibly could to keep. Yet it seems that the club won’t be too disappointed to see him go and nor will many of the fans.
There have been question marks over Adebayor’s attitude and temperament and his dedication to the Arsenal cause has also often been brought into question.
Punch
On the field, he was sent-off in the Carling Cup final defeat to Chelsea for allegedly throwing a punch at Frank Lampard and he was also infamously involved in a bust-up that left team-mate Nicklas Bendtner with a cut on his face. He saw red in a game at Anfield for another incident, but on the whole, his disciplinary record has not been too bad.
His attitude has led to rows with the manager of the Togo football team that have seen him dropped from the side on two occasions despite being named the Togo footballer of the year every year since 2005.
Rumours
Last summer, there were many rumours that Adebayor would be leaving Arsenal and the 6’3†striker did little to endear himself to Arsene Wenger or the Arsenal faithful, by failing to make it clear that he wanted to stay with the club. There were strong rumours of moves to either AC Milan or Barcelona and these rumours were stoked up by his agent and never denied by the player.
In the end Adebayor signed a ‘long term’ deal with Arsenal on the eve of last season and despite an initially lukewarm reception from many of the Arsenal fans, I thought he had worked his way back up the popularity ratings.
What do Arsenal fans think? Do you think you are losing an awesome striker who will be hard to replace or are you glad that a disruptive influence who gave less than his all for the club is moving on?
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