Give him the ball, and he will…

By: Abby | June 27th, 2008

…take it off to Milan. Possibly. The man himself has been making statements that the media are interpreting as either he’s staying or he’s going, depending on which quotes from his most recent interview is taken. He says somewhat different things to the BBC and the the Independent, which combined give an impression that he isn’t sure what he wants to do.

The thoughtful Adebayor Which, in my opinion, is totally fair. I’m not clear on what I want to happen, and it isn’t my life that’s being changed. I like Adebayor a whole lot- he’s our top scorer, after all. I’ll miss his goals, his rapid-fire interviews, his perfectly choreographed celebration dances. He’s come on incredibly in the past season, is young, and can probably only get better. At a time when our ability to compete with the free-spending fellow members of the Top Four is being questioned regularly, is selling off our top scorer really the way to tell the world that we can do it just fine? Not to mention that keeping the squad together is supposed to be a priority.

And yet…he’s incredibly frustrating, isn’t he? For every goal he’s scored it seems like he’s missed three. He’s had one great season, but has he got another one that good in him? Arsenal, when we do sell, often sells too late- look at the prices we did get for Vieira and Henry, and compare that to the prices that were offered the season before they left. Not that Adebayor is in that category, really, but the sums being quoted are incredible. And incredibly, the interested clubs seem willing to pay them. With that kind of money, he can probably be replaced (perhaps with Mario Gomez- despite his shocker of a Euro 2008, I watch enough of the Bundesliga to know how good he really is, and the thought of how much better he could get under Wenger excites me).

Adebayor himself has a similar sort of ambivalence. He does seem to love Arsenal- Arsene Wenger is “like a father to him”, but it’s likely that the contracts he’ll be given at either Milan or Barcelona will be astronomical for a young man who’s had one good season. (Milan seem to be particularly desperate for a striker, after all.) Arsenal is a big club, but no English club has the allure that the big names of Italy and Spain still seem to have- see Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Might a move be better for him?

It doesn’t have a clear-cut answer, this question of Adebayor. It will likely be a very hard decision on both sides. Makes me glad I’m not a manager.

Also, David Dein and the Uzbek can really go to hell. Kroenke is far from perfect, but if those are our options…I’m making the same decision as the board.