Thoughts on Adebayor and City

Morning all,

it looks as if Emmanuel Adebayor will be a Man City player sooner rather than later. As they unveiled the Argentine monster yesterday they confirmed talks with Arsenal were ongoing about the purchase. Their manager, Mark Hughes, said:

Yes, there has been contact. There is a deal to be done, possibly. But it's not been concluded as we speak here. Until that actually happens it's not really the time or the place.

However, reports emerged yesterday suggesting that Adebayor had undergone a medical and today will have a work permit hearing in Manchester. I'm not sure I understand that. Surely he has a work permit already if he's playing for Arsenal. I wasn't aware these things were club specific. Anyway, that is the state of play.

The fee, when it's announced, no doubt be 'undisclosed' but it's thought to be around the £25m mark. It's hard to argue with that. Speaking about the possible sale Ray Parlour says:

He was too lazy at times last season and just didn’t do it. His body language wasn’t great. Wenger will not stand in his way because they can get a lot of money for him and then get a very good player to replace him.

His attitude amazed me at times last season when he just didn’t put it in.

And Ray Parlour is a man who knows a thing or two about effort on the football pitch. I've thought since the BBC Football Focus interview that Adebayor's time was up at Arsenal. After that interview he was dropped from the final games of the season, the manager doing his usual diplomatic thing of claiming the player had an injury, but in my opinion that was a deliberate manoeuvre from Adebayor to ensure he got a move this summer. You don't go on TV and do an interview like that without understanding the consequences. It was grossly unprofessional.

What was worrying though was the fact that nobody seemed even remotely interested in him. Barcelona's main targets this summer have been David Villa and even Diego Forlan, Real Madrid bought top class attacking players in Kaka, Ronaldo and Benzema, while AC Milan, the favoured destination, have been sitting with £55m burning a hole in their pocket and they haven't made any contact at all.

With all that money they haven't approached us once about Adebayor. His stock, which was so high last summer on the back of his fantastic season, has fallen dramatically. So much so that the only club interested in him in Man City, a rich man's toy going about the place playing Championship Manager. 

In a way it's kind of sad. Had he had good advice from his 'people' last summer he might not have thought he was one of the best strikers in the world, merely an improving one with plenty of potential who had created a wonderful platform for himself at Arsenal. The previous summer Arsene Wenger gave him a new contract and a healthy salary rise based more on the manager's faith in him rather than his performances. When the performances AW hoped for arrived the agents and vultures came calling and Adebayor believed every word they told him. But what they told him was not for the good of his career, it was for them to take their cut, make their percentage from a big transfer or a bumper new contract at Arsenal.

Fans made it clear what they thought of his antics at the Emirates Tournament last summer, reacting to the player's ludicrous claim that he'd had his phone off all summer and had no idea what was going on. They didn't like that he flirted with clubs all summer and then kissed the Arsenal badge having just scored a penalty in a meaningless friendly. 

The only way for Adebayor to engage in proper damage limitation was on the pitch. Not in interviews, not by kissing the badge, and to be fair to him in the early part of the season he seemed well up for it. Yet as time went by the running his socks off stopped, the chasing and harrying defenders dwindled, and it culminated in those two unforgivable performances in the Champions League semi-finals, referenced in that BBC interview where he basically said 'I'm up against Vidic and Ferdinand, what do you expect me to do?'

Yes, 16 goals in an injury hit season was a decent return but there's more to this deal than what he has or hasn't done on the pitch. You can't overlook what goes on behind the scenes, what happens off the pitch, attitude in training, relationships with teammates etc - and the man who knows best in that regard is the manager. He will have taken all those factors into consideration before making any decision. He'll know he's making a potential rival stronger, Adebayor is a far better player than Darius Vassell, but he's not going to do it without believing it's in the best interests of Arsenal.

The decision to sell him will have been Arsene Wenger's and only Arsene Wenger's. He knows he's got a player who doesn't want to be at the club anymore and he knows he's being made the kind of offer which will allow him to strengthen his squad. The kind of offer that no other club in the world would make for Adebayor. As I said yesterday if that £25m is reinvested in the squad we make ourselves stronger, not weaker, and for me that is the main point of this deal.

How soon will we get confirmation? Who knows? It wouldn't be a surprise to see it go through today at some stage. City have a tour of South Africa which I imagine they'd really like a famous African player to be part of. After that it's down to us to use the money well, consign Adebayor to history like the countless other players who have left our club down the years, and move on.

In other news the club have hinted at players who may be involved in Saturday's game against Barnet. They don't guarantee anyone's involvement but say some of the players who returned for pre-season on July 7th could be involved. I suspect we'll see a very young team against Barnet with a sprinkling of senior players. The papers are speculating that Tomas Rosicky and Philippe Senderos will play but they're merely part of the July 7th group, it could be any of them. 

Beyond that not much else happening. Let's just hope this business can be wrapped up quickly, the sooner it's done the better for all concerned.