Oh dear, it would have been nice if Emmanuel Adebayor had just gone to Man City, accepted graciously that his Arsenal career was over because of his own actions, and just shut up. Sadly, the average Premier League footballer is about as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning and setting at night. He’s had a fair bit to say and it’s typically deluded stuff.
Firstly he has a little pop at the fans, saying:
When a player plays well, clubs come in for him. I scored 30 goals for Arsenal two seasons ago and it was not my fault that Milan, or Barcelona or Real Madrid wanted to buy me. The fans never understood that and I cannot understand why the fans went after me.
Ok, so we accept that a player who plays well for a big club might attract the attention of other big clubs. Not a problem at all. That is, as they say, par for the course. What you shouldn’t do in those circumstances though is talk about how great it would be to sign for Barcelona, passing off the comments with ‘I am an Arsenal player for now but who knows in football?’ style crap.
Don’t, just after the season ends, go to Barcelona, give an interview to El Mundo talking about how you’d love to play with Thierry Henry again and don’t let them take a picture of you holding a copy of the newspaper grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Don’t have your agent talk time and time again about Milan and important clubs and offers and how you have to prepare for your retirement at the age of 24. Don’t, months later, talk about how Milan is Beyonce and how much you fancy Beyonce, making Arsenal out to be the Susan Boyle of football.
So while it’s not his fault that clubs wanted to buy him he has to accept that he and his agent encouraged them. They then used that interest to negotiate a better contract at Arsenal having just been given a new contract the summer before. Trying to get the best deal for yourself is one thing, holding the club over a barrel to do it is another.
And the fans understood perfectly what he had done, how he had behaved. If he can’t understand why fans felt betrayed by what he had done then he’s deluded. The worst part is I genuinely believe he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. In the BBC interview as well he said the same thing.
But in reality what kind of a hard time did he get? A few jeers at the Emirates Cup last pre-season and his inadvisable kissing of the badge after scoring a penalty against Madrid certainly didn’t help but I think the vast majority of fans were happy to let him know what they thought of his summer antics and then that was that. As I said on this blog back then the best way for him to win the fans back was to work hard and score goals. For a time it seemed that was what he was doing but it quickly became clear running and working hard were beneath him – culminating in those ghastly semi-final/end of season showings.
For me the bottom line is blaming the fans is a cheap shot and cowardly. There were other players who got more stick than him last season. Nicklas Bendtner, for example, went through a period of a couple of months where he couldn’t trap wind, let alone a football. Every time he misplaced a pass there were audible groans and moans and jeers and the grief he got was, in my opinion, far worse than anything directed at Adebayor. Yet he got his head down, worked hard and made things better for himself. He didn’t go bleating and crying to Garth Crooks.
Adebayor goes on to say:
I was in the same position as Cesc. Every summer Barcelona tried to sign him, but the fans never turned on Cesc.
Is he really comparing himself to Cesc? A young man who has been at the club since he was 16, who has represented us brilliantly, and who, despite the vagaries of the Spanish press, about whom we know so much, has categorically denied any stories about him moving back home almost as soon as they emerged.
The reason fans never turned on Cesc is because he never acted like Adebayor.
In his first interview with Man City Adebayor claimed the move was not about money. Today he says:
I know a lot of people will be saying, ‘He went for the money’. But I would like to hear any man, if he is honest, say he would refuse it if he was earning £10 and someone offered him £30.
Fair enough, at least he’s honest about that. Now. The reason he went to City is because Wenger didn’t want him anymore. And because they were offering him a ridiculously large amount of money for a player of his ability. It wasn’t because the fans turned on him, not because AC Milan wanted to buy him. If Wenger had wanted to keep Adebayor he’d have done exactly that, we’d have seen a couple of articles on the official site about how last season was poor but the next one would be better, blah blah blah.
His claims about Arsenal needing the money might have some validity, we’ll see. It might well be a case that Arsene and Ivan Gazidis have sat down, identified where they need to strengthen the squad and said ‘Well, if we sell Adebayor that gives us £X to spend on a midfielder/defender’ etc. The main point though is that if Wenger wanted to keep the player he would have kept him.
And even if we did need to sell a player to raise funds for a signing or two to make us stronger, what’s the problem with that? Is it not better for a club to live within its means, to operate like any normal business would, instead of blindly borrowing? Of course it’s down to the manager to use that money now to make us stronger.
It’s not at all surprising it’s ended this way. There’s a tremendous sense of bitterness from Adebayor, his vastly improved pay-packet is cushioning the blow of taking a drop in terms of the stature of the club he’s playing for. But the sheer unwillingness to accept any of the responsibility for what happened and to point the fingers at the fans and the manager shows what kind of a character he really is.
When he sold him I was of the opinion it was the right move and we’d be better off for it. This has only reinforced that. And that, my good old friends, is about the last thing I’ve got to say about him. We play City away on Sept 12th, I’m sure the away fans will be in good voice that day.
In other news The Sun is linking us with Klaas Jan Huntelaar again. I don’t really see anything new in that and I think he’s too expensive an option to be honest.
Thierry Henry has been talking about Arsenal as well. He says:
It’s not going to be easy without Adebayor, obviously, and what happened with Nasri was unlucky, but I still believe they can win the League. It can happen this year. I know everybody is saying this and that but in my heart I will always talk like that.
When you compare the way he speaks about the club to the comments made by Mr X-Factor the other day it just shows what a legend Thierry is. It is interesting how soon we’re being completely written off this season. Nobody expects us to challenge for the title, many expect City to eclipse us, and while I still think we need to add to the squad to be truly competitive for the upcoming campaign it’s way too early for the obituaries to start.
Thierry also talks about how ‘vital’ Cesc is but then we know that already.
Marouane Chamakh says he’s ready to join Sunderland and that he’s fed up waiting for Arsenal. Ok then. I’m not exactly going to shed any tears.
Apparently Fiorentina are going to offer €10m for Emmanuel Eboue. That seems like a reasonable deal to me. We get a load of money. They get Eboue. I’m trying to see a flaw in this plan. I suppose the main problem is that the story itself is most likely fiction.
Johan Djourou on how this could be his breakthrough season. He’s partnered Vermaelen twice in pre-season so far, I suspect the boss is having a good look at how they work together. It is time for him to take a step forward though, fingers crossed it happens.
And that’ll be about that. Have a good Friday, more tomorrow.
