Harry Redknapp on Emmanuel Adebayor: "I Am a Big Fan of His"

There's a lot of times that players brought in on loan don't work out the way you hope them to.

Sometimes, players underachieve. When Newcastle United brought in Aston Villa's Stephen Ireland for the second half of the 2010/2011 season, I'm sure they thought they were getting the attacking midfielder who flourished at Manchester United. Instead, he battled injury and played in just two matches.

Sometimes, players don't get along with their team well. Way back in 1995, Leeds United was still in the Premiership and shelled out an unthinkable £4.5m for Tomas Brolin's services. Brolin was signed to a two-and-a-half year contract, but didn't get along with teammates who accused the Swedish international of having a poor work ethic. He was also on thin ice with head coach Howard Wilkinson. For April Fool's Day, he told a Swedish television station that he was going back home to play in Sweden. Wilkinson wanted Brolin gone.

For Tottenham, neither of these have been the case with Emmanuel Adebayor.

The former Manchester City player is performing exceptionally well on loan. He's the team's leading scorer through five matches with three goals. He sets up teammates, as we saw last weekend when Adebayor assisted Rafael Van der Vaart on Tottenham's opening goal against Wigan Athletic. He's not a distraction and doesn't cause conflict on or off the pitch. And he's earned the praise and confidence of Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, who has said he wants to sign Adebayor to a long-term deal.

"I am a big fan of his," Redknapp told Independent.co.uk. "In the summer he went to France to work with a fitness coach and spent a large part of the summer working with this guy one on one doing three sessions a day. He came back stronger and fitter and he feels in great, sharp form."

Last season, Redknapp had to manage with an unhappy Peter Crouch and untalented Roman Pavlyuchenko as forwards. Jermain Defoe struggled through injury and a lack of talent and chemistry on the front line, scoring only four goals in 22 appearances.

But this season, Defoe has found not only a partner on the pitch but a friend off of it. To date, Defoe has scored twice and is the quick-strike threat Redknapp envisioned him to be when Tottenham signed him from Portsmouth in 2009.

"[Adebayor's] movement is top-class and he is playing with loads of enthusiasm," Redknapp said to Daily Mail.

It would seem that enthusiasm is encouraging more than just Defoe.

After five matches last season, Spurs had managed only six goals. After five matches this season, the club has nine goals -- from six different players. Spurs fans can rest assured that the north London club that scored only 55 league goals last season -- ninth-most in the Premiership --- will be much improved this season and contend with Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea.

Now all Redknapp has to do is figure out how to wrestle Adebayor away from Manchester City and sign him to a long-term contract.