Why Emmanuel Adebayor Is the Most Frustrating Player in the Tottenham Squad
Percolating through the pre-season Tottenham Hotspur transfer talk and news relating to deals the club have already completed is the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Emmanuel Adebayor's future.
In the wake of his decidedly underwhelming 2014-15 campaign, the two parting company very much felt like the best option. Adebayor can resuscitate his stagnating career elsewhere, Tottenham can free up room to reinvigorate their own attack.
His public declaration last month of his intent to stay (see below) suggests any split will not be so simple. Indeed, particularly in the minds of those keen to see the back of the mercurial striker, it just reiterates his status as the most frustrating player in the Spurs squad.
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Reflections on Adebayor's fourth season at White Hart Lane should take into consideration the personal issues which evidently influenced his form. In December and May he was given leave by the north London club. In between times he detailed on social media ongoing family issues plaguing his recent professional career.
It was a rare, at points astonishing insight into unseen aspects of a footballer's life off the pitch. A reminder that criticism of performances and attitude must be tempered given the minimal understanding we have of what goes on in another human being's head.
Nevertheless, while affording sympathy to Adebayor here, there is no denying the inconsistency of his displays since arriving at Spurs in 2011 has warranted further scrutiny.
Excellent in his first season, a stuttered pre-season and subsequent injury issues hurt his second. Disagreements with Andre Villas-Boas cost him his place in the third before being reinstated to good affect by the Portuguese's mid-year replacement Tim Sherwood.
The latter form was enough for his latest head coach Mauricio Pochettino to deploy him in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation's lone striker role. His seniority in the squad was recognised too with his selection as one of two vice-captains. Perhaps Adebayor was primed to settle into an elder-statesman role, scoring the goals that would see Spurs through the birthing pains of a new regime.
The match-sealing strike in their second game of the season, a 4-0 win over Queens Park Rangers, gave hope. But the odd display aside (a strong effort in October's defeat of Southampton springs to mind), the dynamic and confident forward of the first half of 2014 gave way to a meandering, almost timid shadow.
Adebayor was not alone in struggling for form at this point. Others in the attack were also toiling at times in their attempts to connect with one another and outwit opposition defences shrewdly denying them space to create.
There were hints of the improvement that would emerge in late autumn, but few came from the side's experienced front-man. At a time when Spurs needed Adebayor to take the lead, he went missing.
Knowing the player he was and is capable of being, the club's fans were understandably frustrated.
His plea for more team-wide support in November was a reasonable one given the particularly poor atmosphere at White Hart Lane at the time (albeit that is an ongoing, complicated situation encompassing matters far beyond the team's efforts). But coming from one of the side's most under-performing players, it unsurprisingly did not go down too well. Adebayor would explain himself, again via social media, but by then things had changed.
Ensuring the Togolese's iffy form was not too problematic was Harry Kane. Scoring plenty in the Europa League and Capital One Cup, he got his chance in the Premier League under Pochettino heading into November and did not look back.
Kane and Adebayor had played decently together at the back end of 2013-14, notably both scoring in a 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland. But their next deployments together in early 2015 left the impression that the senior striker was more hindrance than help now to the on-fire youngster. In the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg against Sheffield United, Adebayor's presence just meant less room for Kane to play his at-times dominant game (a similar situation had also emerged with the Englishman and Roberto Soldado).
It has led to the current potential impasse.
Tottenham head into 2015-16 with Kane as the main man in their attack. He finished the campaign just gone with 30 club goals to his name, and the understandable focus now is providing the necessary support to help keep him at this level.
Adebayor scored in Togo's 2-1 African Cup of Nations win over Liberia later in June. Signing off for the season on a high, he expressed his intent to carry on where he left off when back in pre-season with Spurs.
Perhaps Pochettino will decide to hand Adebayor another opportunity. Maybe he will come back so motivated and sharp that the Argentinian cannot ignore him. But with Kane having moved ahead of him in the pecking order, it feels like Adebayor's time at Spurs has passed.
The team's structure so far under Pochettino has generally revolved around a lone forward and it is difficult to see where the former Arsenal and Manchester City man will fit in. He is not especially suited to a wide role, and last season showed he has little inclination or desire to be Kane's back-up.
The general perception is the club are keen to move Adebayor on in the wake of all this. Mail Online's Sami Mokbel outlined the difficulty of doing so given the player's substantial wage demands. The summer's transfer gossip has been peppered with talk of possible destinations, though—one of them a reunion with Sherwood at Aston Villa, as suggested by the Mirror's Adrian Kajumba.
Plenty of time is left in the summer transfer window for headway to be made.
Despite what Adebayor says, surely he will prefer to be playing football somewhere rather than just make up the numbers at Tottenham. Despite his faults, he has shown over the years he is too good to be just left on the sidelines. There will undoubtedly be suitors if he is available.
But by just seeing out his contract for the sake of it, he would be doing neither Spurs nor himself any favours. Tumultuous a stay as it has been, it would be a shame if the last memories of Adebayor in north London are firmly ones of frustration all-round.
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