EMONEYuel BADebayor: A Disgrace to Football

I know this title sounds extremely harsh and so will this article, but Adebayor is the greediest, most disloyal, and disrespectful footballer I have ever seen. And I have been watching football for the past 13 years or so.

I welcome all Manchester City fans, anti-Arsenal fans and anybody who disagrees with me to leave their comments. But I also know there are many who agree with me, so let’s hear your support as well.

Adebayor joined Arsenal as a virtually unknown player. Few football fans had heard of Adebayor, except Monaco fans, Metz fans and some Ligue 1 fans. He joined Arsenal for a reported fee of 4 million pounds, a meager sum for what he gave Arsenal, but that is not where the problem lies.

Ever since Adebayor joined Arsenal, he has been making noise about how good a player he is, and shows signs of arrogance which no Arsenal fan liked, let alone football fans around the globe. In his first season at Arsenal in 2005/2006 Adebayor notched in four goals in 13 games in all competitions. Not a bad return, but compared to all the noise he has been making (maybe not then, but later), a bad return. Robin Van Persie, just about six months older than Adebayor, scored 11 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions.

That means Adebayor scored a goal in every 3.25 appearances whereas Van Persie scored a goal in every 3.45 appearances. It may look like Adebayor’s ratio is better, but Adebayor started 12 out of those 13 games, while Van Persie started only 21 out of those 38 games. That means, Adebayor’s ratio was a goal every three games he started, while Van Persie’s was a goal in 1.9 games he started. Van Persie was better.

In the following years too, Van Persie has had a better ratio and has scored more goals every year than Adebayor, except the 2007/2008 season, when Adebayor was truly impressive. That was also the same year, when Adebayor started his flirtations with other clubs like AC Milan, Barcelona, and a few others.

That year, Adebayor asked for a pay rise. He was still fulfilling his first contract which pocketed him around 30,000 pounds a week. After such a good season, he demanded more money. And he deserved it. A player who scored 29 goals in all competitions thoroughly deserved a better contract, especially keeping in mind that he was filling club legend Thierry Henry’s shoes. Everybody expected Arsenal to collapse and not get goals, but Adebayor did his job extremely well.

He got a new contract of 80,000 pounds a week, on par with the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie. But I have to mention that Adebayor was asking for more. Asking for more than Fabregas! All Arsenal fans and football fans know that there is no way (in hell!) that Adebayor deserves more money that Fabregas. As I mentioned earlier, Adebayor demanded more money, saying such ridiculous things like he should be paid as much as Henry if he was playing that well and was expected to fill Henry’s shoes.

Are you kidding me? Pay Emmanuel Adebayor as much as Thierry Henry? Really? The day I read that statement from Adebayor, I could not stop laughing at him, and could not stop admiring the courage and audacity of the young Togolese forward. No one disagreed with Adebayor that he deserved more money than 30,000 pounds a week (and he was getting 80,000 pounds now), but as much as Henry? You be the judge.

So after much flirtation, Adebayor stayed at Arsenal. Not because of loyalty, but no club went completely out of their way to buy Adebayor. His price tag was hefty, and nobody thought he was worth that much money. After that season, we actually saw the real Adebayor.

Over the years, like I mentioned before, Van Persie has scored more goals for Arsenal than Adebayor has. I am not counting the fact that Van Persie joined Arsenal earlier. I am counting goals scored when both were already at the club. This year, Van Persie had offers, but after talking to Arsene Wenger and realizing that his and Arsenal’s objectives were similar, he signed a new contract.

Last year, Juventus wanted to sign Gael Clichy. They also promised to increase his pay check by a very substantial amount. The next day, Arsenal announced that Clichy had signed a contract extension. There are other players who were offered deals from other clubs too. Look at Fabregas. Hometown and ex-club Barcelona and Real Madrid are linked with him every summer, or rather, every week, and Fabregas would definitely get a higher pay check than Adebayor in any club except Manchester City of course, but Fabregas pledges his loyalty every time.

Even William Gallas, after being stripped off the captaincy and going through rough and humiliating phases last season shrugged of interest from AC Milan and clubs in his native France to stay at Arsenal.  

Around two years ago, I was reading an interview about Adebayor. He was talking about his childhood days back in his homeland Togo. He said that he loved football and always wanted to be a footballer. He said that his neighbors always laughed at him and his father and said things like Adebayor should not be playing football as he won’t have a future in it. But his father supported him and Adebayor worked hard.

After playing at local club Sporting Club de Lome, Adebayor got his European breakthrough when Metz signed him for their reserve team. He then broke into the first team, and after just two years with the team which brought him to Europe, he jumped ship when a better and richer team, Monaco called him. I do not blame him for that though, who does not want to win trophies?

In the interview, Adebayor spoke about his love for football and how grateful he is to his father for all the support. He also said that he was an extremely grateful person, and would always hold a special place for those who have helped him.  

Adebayor then joined Arsenal from Monaco. I don’t blame him for that, who would not want to join Arsenal? But in the same interview, Adebayor said that he did not want to leave Monaco at all. He said that the only reason why he left Monaco was that when he returned to train after the summer, the then-coach Francesco Guidolin asked him who he was when Adebayor entered his office. Adebayor felt insulted and rightly so. But seeing how he left Arsenal it is clear that Adebayor wanted to leave Monaco, and not just the insult made him leave.

In the interview, he also mentions how he is grateful to Arsenal for giving him the chance to shine in the Premier League and Champions League and that he would stay loyal and faithful. Another lie. Now at Manchester City he says he is happy and wants to repay the faith the club and fans have on him. Two more years, and if Real Madrid or Barcelona come calling, do not be surprised if Adebayor leaves.

He stated last year, that money is the most important thing to him. He says he wants to retire with a lot of money, so he does not have to suffer. 80,000 pounds a week, isn’t that a lot of money already?

Not to forget that Adebayor has also demanded a two million pounds loyalty bonus from Arsenal for not handing in a transfer request! Talk about respect. The first thing in respecting others is first respecting yourself, which, clearly Adebayor does not.

Also, just a reminder that Adebayor went to a club not even in Europe this season.

I did blame Mathieu Flamini for leaving Arsenal too. I personally think he left for money as well because he wanted a big contract. Arsenal was willing to give him one similar to that of Adebayor, and he almost agreed. But Juventus came with a bigger pay check. Flamini declared how Juventus was always the team he supported, and would love to play for them. If the team you supported as a child comes calling you and you get paid a better some of money, then you should leave. But then a day later, AC Milan offered him an even higher pay check, and there was where Flamini went.

But I can vouch for Flamini that no matter how he gets booed if he was to face Arsenal, there is no way he would react the same way. Other players have got booed too, like Ashley Cole and David Bentley but none have shown such disgracefully cheap behavior. Cristiano Ronaldo was booed by almost every club's  fans after Euro 2004, but never did he react so badly.

Emmanuel Eboue was booed by Arsenal fans for a long period of time last season, but yet turned down the chance to move to Inter Milan and Fiorentina this summer to repay the faith Arsene Wenger has on him. If he was to ever leave Arsenal, I do not think Eboue would react like Emoneyuel Badebayor.

One can celebrate their goal. Especially when the other club fans are booing you. Celebrate the goal with all your heart, but nobody sprints the entire length of the field to go right in front of the Arsenal fans and challenge them. If Adebayor had run like that last season, Arsenal’s season could have been different. Everybody saw how disinterested and effortless Adebayor was at Arsenal last season.

If any of you missed it, Kolo Toure, another player who joined Manchester City this summer from Arsenal was the first player to reach Adebayor, and did not even celebrate the goal properly. He simply lifted Adebayor up, and took him away. Toure had contributed a lot to Arsenal over so many years, and once again showed that he does love the club. Well done Kolo.

This morning, Manchester City manager Mark Hughes said that Adebayor did what he did because of the constant booing from Arsenal fans. Clearly this was not what I expected to hear from Hughes. You have to support your players, yes, but sometimes there can be no excuse. Hughes and Manchester City have to discipline Adebayor internally.

Then of course there was the stamp on Robin Van Persie. Than Adebayor says that it was unintentional and he could not move his foot away. Anybody who sees the replay knows that Adebayor stamped Van Persie intentionally. There is no doubt about that. On watching the replays, it can be seen that Adebayor has actually moved his feet with a slight jerk towards Van Persie’s face, contrary to what he was saying about not moving his foot away. Had he even held his foot at place, he would have avoided Van Persie’s face, but clearly, he wanted to kick him, or at least deliberately kicked him.

The FA has said that they are investigating the matter, and will take any action they think Adebayor deserves. Adebayor should not be fined. Being one of the highest paid players in the Premier League (and around the world), a fine will do no harm to Adebayor. What Adebayor needs is a minimum ban of six games.

The incident with Van Persie alone deserves a three match ban. Had the referee seen it, Adebayor would have got a direct red card which is an automatic two game ban. Then, there would surely be an additional one game ban for such malicious intent. Then, Adebayor deserves at least a three game ban for his celebration. If anyone disagrees, then please recall when Gary Neville got a three game ban when he just kissed Manchester United’s badge in front of Liverpool fans.

Therefore I think that a six game ban is the minimum he deserves. If football was based on morals though and I had the power to make decisions, I would ban Adebayor for at least 10 games. Yes, 10.

It is not just with clubs that Adebayor has had problems. Even with national side Togo he has been the constant noise maker. He has quit the national team temporarily before (although he plays now) and was in a row with the national team coach and the Togo football board over bonuses after the World Cup 2006. The team went out in the group stages, and he was demanding a World Cup bonus!

I still think Wenger did the right thing by selling Adebayor and Toure. But what Adebayor did was absolutely disgraceful and I have never seen such behavior in football before. Never.

Come April 24th, when the two teams face at the Emirates Stadium, Adebayor will have regret all he did as he faces the wrath of over 60,000 faithful Gooners. That is, if Mark Hughes has the confidence to play Adebayor and if the man himself has the courage.