Thursday 25 February 2016 15:25, UK
Emmanuel Adebayor has a reputation as a troublemaker but does his scoring record deserve greater recognition? Ahead of Crystal Palace's Saturday Night Football clash with West Brom, we take a look at one of football's most divisive figures...
Emmanuel Adebayor received a predictably hot reception when he returned to White Hart Lane with Crystal Palace on Sunday. The striker had promised to celebrate if he scored against his old club, and after his every touch was booed by the home supporters, his afternoon ended to a backdrop of jeers as he was substituted in the second half.
Adebayor's break-up with Spurs was drawn-out and painful. By the time he was released from his contract in September, he hadn't played in five months, he was frozen out of first team training, and his prolific spells under Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood were long forgotten. It was a familiar story for one of the Premier League's most controversial characters.
Around a year previously, the 31-year-old had irreparably damaged his relationship with Spurs fans by criticising the atmosphere at White Hart Lane after a defeat by Stoke. The comments added to a long list of misdemeanours that includes an infamously provocative celebration against Arsenal and an on-field bust-up with former team-mate Nicklas Bendtner, and Manchester City will also testify that he rarely leaves his clubs on happy terms.
In fact, the pattern started as a youngster at Monaco, when he grew angry with manager Francesco Guidolin - now at Swansea - after losing his starting spot to Italian strikers Marco de Vaio and Christian Vieri. "I have the impression that you have to be Italian to be a first-team player in this side," he said at the time. "I cannot continue like this. I have to leave." Soon enough, he was on his way to Arsenal.
But for all the acrimony that has accompanied Adebayor since his breakthrough years, there is good reason why he has been so coveted throughout his career. At his best, the Togolese is unplayable, combining fearsome pace and aerial strength with a high level of technical skill and a predatory eye for goal.
His towering header in Palace's recent 2-1 defeat by Watford was his 97th Premier League goal on his 233rd appearance, and he is on course to reach 100 in fewer games than Wayne Rooney. Along with Sunderland's Jermain Defoe, the Manchester United captain is the only current Premier League player to have reached the landmark.
Rooney is not the only top-class Premier League striker with a scoring rate that pales in comparison to Adebayor's. Teddy Sheringham and Dwight Yorke took 254 games to reach three figures, while Nicolas Anelka took 258. His eight goals in 22 games during a successful loan at Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid are also often overlooked.
So while Crystal Palace were widely considered to be taking a "gamble" by signing Adebayor, the word "guarantee" might have been more accurate. Adebayor has scored goals wherever he has gone - the conditions just have to be right.
"He's a character that needs to be loved," said Alan Pardew. "With the group I have, he's going to get that." With that in mind, club chairman Steve Parish quickly heralded the striker as one of the top three players ever to have played for the club, while Pardew has spoken of him in glowing terms at every opportunity. The charm offensive is all part of the plan.
There are, however, few players who attract as much vitriol as Adebayor. The striker has been accused of losing focus after securing long-term contracts, something that certainly appeared to be the case when he penned a new deal at Arsenal after scoring 30 times in 2007/08, and when he earned a permanent move to Spurs after scoring 18 goals on loan at White Hart Lane in 2010/11.
Underperforming players taking home six-figure weekly paycheques are unlikely to be treated sympathetically, but, on a human level, Adebayor has suffered traumas most people can only imagine.
He was on Togo's team bus when three people were killed and numerous others injured in a gun attack in Angola in 2010, and in May last year the striker was given time off by Tottenham after a series of disturbing Facebook posts revealed bitter feuding with family members.
"I've seen people dying in front of me, I've seen people with guns in front of me," he said in February 2013, a few months before the death of his brother, Peter. "I've also had 30,000 people abusing me in stadiums. I take it as part of life. It's true that sometimes you hear things and think: 'It's a tough one' but when I go home to my wife and little daughter they put a smile on my face."
Adebayor now insists he has "nothing to prove" to his critics, but reaching 100 Premier League goals would be a reminder of his pedigree. "I just want to show people I'm still alive and still smiling," he said in January. On Saturday at West Brom, he can show them he's still scoring too.
Watch West Brom v Crystal Palace live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 1pm on Saturday
