It’s official – Emmanuel Adebayor is a Manchester City player. And while the transfer fee is likely to remain undisclosed the amount is thought to be around £25 million.
He’s given his first interview as a Manchester City player and you can watch it below (LINK):
If I’m being completely honest the overwhelming feeling I am getting about Adebayor’s departure is one of disappointment at what could have been. Had Adebayor kept his head down last season and focused on repaying the faith that Arsenal and Arsene Wenger put in him before he caught fire the year before, there’s no way he would be moving to City. But his ego inflated, his workrate dropped and – understandably – the fans turned on him.
It hurts me in many ways that I used to call Adebayor my favourite player. I thought he epitomised the sort of character I really enjoy in football; hard-working, creative, joyful. Last season he was neither of those and after his virtual admission that he had lost faith in the club and its fans there was no chance he was going to be this season either. There’s no denying a motivated and chirpy Adebayor would have given a lot to our team but an unmotivated and unhappy one would have given us absolutely nothing.
Personally I feel the exit of Adebayor will make our squad stronger – particularly if the fee for his transfer is used to sign a quality defensive midfielder. He’s obviously a big and not always popular personality and his absence should give players like Eduardo and particularly Nicklas Bendtner the space to shine. It might also open up the possibility of a new striker signing with Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux the most likely candidate.
There is a theory going around that Adebayor’s exit may see Wenger change the way his forward structure operates. Essentially a lone striker (Robin van Persie or Bendtner) would operate ahead of two support strikers (any two from Andrey Arshavin, Eduardo, Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky, Carlos Vela, Abou Diaby) and I think it would work quite well, particularly given the increased role that Arshavin might get to play.
On that note I might leave it there. Bye, bye Ade. I look forward to giving you a right booing when we play you.
Arsenal 2-2 Barnet
Moving onto football matters and Arsenal opened their pre-season with a 2-2 draw against Barnet. Andrey Arshavin and Nacer Barazite got the goals while a very happy Tomas Rosicky was named captain for the day. New signing Thomas Vermaelen also got a run-out.
I didn’t get to watch the game – pre-season friendlies at 5am on a Sunday morning aren’t really a priority right now – but you can catch the highlights in the clip I’ve included below (LINK):
Anyway, that’s it. Enjoy yourselves, I’ll be back with some more thoughts tomorrow.
Have your say on Adebayor’s exit to Manchester City by leaving a comment.
Cmon get a bloody CDM god dam it and replace ade
Interestingly – with the ‘Did the fans drive Ade out?’ debate – the player I’ve been touting for us to buy, Celtic’s Gary Caldwell, was booed and criticised by the Celtic fans in his first seasons as they thought he was no good. He stayed and won the fans over with better and better displays until he was voted Scottish Player Of The year last season and is now a cult hero among Celtic fans.
Adebayor could have chosen this path. Made an extra effort. Thought to himself ‘I’ll show them. I’ll win the fans over.’ But no – he chose the lazy man’s option. Runaway and try somewhere else. That’s indicative of the character of the man and I expect will show up again if and when the going gets tough at Man Shitty. I think he’s a great player – but he needs to have his head examined if he’d rather play for Man Shitty than Arsenal. Even with the extra lolly.
wow hans u r very wrong about that.
@David – those other guys u mentioned are Egyptians, not Moraccans.
Nice piece Spanish…just the kinda stuff I like reading, but what about them Strikers…no injury worries for you? Dont u think we need new strikers?
@MoMOney – Viera’s messed up…how can u even think of VIERA? He wont even fit in and hes way too slow.
@Paresh – Spot on……I still feel we need another proven striker.
@butterfinger – Spot on there………
I was more than hurt went I first got the news about Adebayor tranfer to man city over BBC on Saturday.
I have favored Ade as my best player on arsenal but his desire to leave for man city is all by himself. I bid you good bye. I hope to see you in action as usual when man city meets arsenal next season. I must admit I missed you a lot.
iam glad that Ade is gone and now we shall win some next season. Thank Wanger.