Emmanuel Adebayor Needs to Stop Talking

By: Martin | August 18th, 2009

Despite scoring a goal on his debut last week, with every day that passes, I’m more and more satisfied that Wenger did the right thing by selling Adebayor to Man City.

This week, Adebayor came out and said that Arsenal fans made it “hard” for him. Well, you know what, Ade? You made it “hard” for me to watch my favorite team get spanked by Manchester United in the Champions League because you weren’t even trying to help the team win. According to Adebayor:

As a footballer, when you know that the club and the fans are behind you, it makes you want to give 100 per cent – and that is what happened on Saturday. It was very difficult for me at Arsenal. When I got the ball and tried to score a goal, even at home, the fans were still booing. That is something you cannot imagine. Now I am happy to be at a club where everyone loves me. The criticism I got at Arsenal was unfair. Clubs like AC Milan and Barcelona were in for me, but the fans could not understand why that happened. I don’t know if they think I am a poor player, but the important thing for me was to change clubs. That is all behind me now – I achieved a lot of things there and my record is not bad at all.

History hasn’t been this badly twisted and misrepresented since Michael Bay made that crapfest “Pearl Harbor.” The fact is that after the 2007-2008 season, Adebayor was beloved by Gunner fans, and could have been a North London legend. Fans only began to turn on him when he made a choice to disrespect the club by openly trying to leave the club. Here’s what I wrote in May when Adebayor criticized Arsenal fans in the media, and was dropped from the squad for the last game of the season with what was ostensibly a groin problem:

The other big news was that Adebayor was left out of the squad, ostensibly with a groin problem. But it’s worth noting that it did come one day after giving an interview criticizing Arsenal fans for not being more supportive of him this year. Arseblog has a great analysis of this situation, but it really comes down to this–some people get it, and some people don’t. Cesc, with the way he acts towards the fans and his fellow players, both on the pitch and in media interviews, gets it. Whenever a story pops up about him going to Barcelona pops up, he immediately comes out and says it’s not true, that he’s happy at Arsenal and staying at Arsenal. Adebayor, on the other hand, spent months in the offseason trying to engineer a move to Milan or Barcelona, then when it fell through tried to blame it all on his agent, saying he himself never wanted to move or tried to work out a move. Well, you know what? Your agent works for you. If I had an agent who was saying things that were untrue or misrepresenting my intentions, I’d first tell him to knock it off; if that didn’t work, I’d fire my agent, it’s really that simple.

And then, of course, there was the incident where Adebayor kissed the badge on his shirt at a preseason match, and was rightly booed. In the middle of the most important stretch of games this club has had in some time, he came out and compared being courted by Milan to being courted by Beyonce, which I think shows volumes about his priorities and focus. And now he claims that the fans haven’t been supportive enough, and didn’t sing his song as much this year as last year? Well, you know what, Ade? Fans generally sing your song when you score goals, or at least look like you give a crap whether your team wins or loses. Last year you scored 29 goals. This year you scored 15. Do you want them to sing your song to glorify your half-hearted jogging around in a Champions League semifinal game against one of your biggest rivals?

The bottom line is this–I think Adebayor’s ego has gotten too big, and while you can certainly have an ego (it didn’t stop us from loving Henry), when you’re so completely self-centered that you have little regard for the club, its fans, or your teammates, it’s just not feasible for you to stay at Arsenal. We probably won’t get the fee we could have gotten for him last year, but you don’t think Manchester City would pony up £20-£25 million for him? And while it’s not Milan or Barcelona, Adebayor is clearly someone who cares a lot about money–if Manchester City were to give him £100-£120 thousand pounds a week, does anyone think he wouldn’t take that and a chance to pair up with Robinho? If we could get that, I say we jump at the chance–Adebayor’s a talented player who is world-class when he wants to be, but all too often, he can’t be bothered. I’d rather get a return on him and spend the money on a player who wants to play for Arsenal and help us win trophies.

Bam! Move over Miss Clio! I nailed the team and the transfer fee on the head! But self-aggrandizing aside, I stand by everything I said–he was the one that ruined his relationship with the Arsenal fans. He couldn’t have honestly believed that he could openly court bids from other teams, then when there was no interest, come back like nothing happened, kiss the badge in a preseason game, and be fully embraced again by the N5 faithful. He wanted it both ways–he wanted to play for Milan or Barcelona, not Arsenal, and when that didn’t work out, he expected us to pretend like it doesn’t happen.

But that’s not the way it works. If your girlfriend tells you you’re ugly and then proceeds to spend all night throwing herself at a couple of rich, collar-popping, cologne-drenched d-bag fratboys, only to get turned down, she can’t just come back over to you, give you a kiss, and expect her to take her home like it didn’t just happen. She just can’t. And it’s the same with footballers and their clubs. You either want to play for Arsenal if you don’t. Cesc has the chance to leave Arsenal for a “bigger” club on a more or less weekly basis. But he loves Arsenal and wants to be here, so he doesn’t leave. And we love him for it. Contrary to what Adebayor would have you believe, Arsenal fans are great fans, and we’re very loyal to our players. We just expect the same in return, and that’s what Adebayor can’t get through his thick head.

He just doesn’t get it, and he probably never will. And as for his contention that the Manchester City fans are better than we are, I would humbly say this–give them time, Ade. If they can put up with three years of your openly trying to leave them for other clubs and putting in shockingly indifferent performances in important games, and they’re still 100% behind you, then come talk to me about supportive fans. Until then…