Will Adebayor be Wenger's greatest sale yet?
Sunday, 22 June 08, 07:00 AM · Comments(17)
The reports of Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor joining numerous clubs this summer continues to grow credence. Most transfer stories are
a spark in the either, sometimes they're a fire easily dowsed by a bucket of water from the manager, but in Adebayor's case, the speculation has turned into a great big raging bonfire that
nobody can extinguish - and more importantly, few are attempting to.
Since joining Arsenal on January 13th 2006, Adebayor's attempt at winning the affection of the Arsenal fans has been a successful one -
but most supporters would be lying if they did not admit to a nagging doubt. Generally, his mountainous work ethic is appreciated if nothing else and everybody would have to agree that the
striker gives Arsenal a more physical dimension than your usual Wenger team. Then there's the goals, 4 in his first half-season, 12 the season after, and 30 last year, progress is being made -
although one might argue that any striker worth his salt would score 30 goals a season playing up front for such a goal-creating machine as Arsenal - last season Bendtner scored nine coming off
the bench and Eduardo 12 in less than half of his first full season.
But back to that nagging doubt. Let's be honest, Adebayor does not fit the Wenger mold of pass and move football. His ball control is more
often than not a miscontroland I don't believe I've ever seen a player so frequently blown offside - it has become infuriating to watch at times. Wengerball does not usually find accommodation
for a player of Adebayor's technique; too many attacking moves break down when the ball lands at the big man's feet, and he is also a player who scores in flourishes, he'll bag 10 in 7, then
won't score for 6 weeks. With Adebayor comes a manager's worst fear of a stiker, unpredictability
It is possible that Wenger feels Adebayor's last season at Arsenal was a one-off, a season of good fortune unable to be repeated. And if he gets it right, bagging a massive £22m transfer fee for another future failure would be his best piece of business since Nicolas Anelka's move to Real Madrid for a similar amount. One thing's for sure, there are some legs on this transfer story and Wenger could well feel that Arsenal would be a more effective team without Emmanuel Adebayor.
How would I feel if the player left? Well, like most fans - I have mixed opinions of the front man. Of his 30 goals last season - 16 were scored away from home; this is not a striker who only scores in the comfort zone of his own stadium. Adebayor scored at the old foe Tottenham (3 times during 07/08), AC Milan, Liverpool and Man Utd - so coming up trumps against the big clubs does not appear to be a problem for him. What else do I admire about Adebayor? He never gives up does he? He'll miss 2, 3, 4 chances in a game, but crucially it never seems to affect him - a good attribute to have.
To be honest, I would be happy for the player to stay - his touch and technique can certainly be improved on the pitch and on the training ground, Adebayor is only 24 after all - not many strikers peak at that age. However, if Wenger is prepared to sell, I can certainly understand the reasoning behind it. My biggest reservation is that with the prospect of Adebayor and Alexandr Hleb both leaving the club along with the already departed Matthieu Flamini and Jens Lehmann - there will be a requirement for plenty of new arrivals - and new arrivals take time to adapt.
One thing's for sure, when all is said and done it will be very interesting to see who has come and gone by 31st August, and the level of
control Arsene Wenger will have had.
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
Wenger is taking the club backwards, not concerned about losing hleb & Flamini now hes letting go our top goal scorer. He needed to add at least three quality players to our squad from last season, now he needs to bring in 6 players. He's losing the plot, can't compete with ferguson , who by the way won the league and champions league last season said he will bring in three players in the summer. Now we all no when wenger wins something he never adds to the squad, so that tells me either he's a fool or the other managers are better.
Wenger say he would rather spend his transfer kitty on keeping the players he has. Thats like spending your hard earned on gold diggers, they love you while you are spending your money on them, but run off with the next guy who has more. To be honest I would rather see us finish forth again and give some young kid who appreciates the chance a go than chuck more money at Gold digging traitors like Ade and Flamini who wouldn't even know how to look up the words INTEGRITY and LOYALTY!!
This football club is becoming an absolute joke! I,m really starting to get pissed off with whats going on.
1) where are the signings wenger was talking about at the end of may??? " I know what i want and i,m confident I will get, the fans will be reassured by what they see"
what arran ramsey and possibly samir nasri!! wow
they may be of some use to us in 3-4 years time!
2)if we sell adebayor weather its 25mill or 100 mill we wont buy a top striker like david villa with the money so whats the point of selling. top strikers are hard to come across yet david villa is there for the taking and we don't show a sniff of intrest!!! we could do with him as well as adebayor but if we do sell we will buy some 18yr kid with POTENTIAL!! not F*****G good enough!
It looks to me like the club is happy to keep finishing 2nd or 3rd as long as large amounts of the stadim debt gets paid off by selling our better players!
I thought we are meant to be one of Europes biggest clubs??
well the big clubs dont sell there best players, simple as that!
Can,t wait for next season prob top of the league till april and then finish 3rd again......great!!
NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE ARSENAL!
If we could get Arshavin in our squad and a very good striker, id take Hleb and Adebayor to wherever they were to go myself. Id love us to sign a keeper (Given) and a centre half too (Cuellar of Rangers) this would make me happy
sell him get eto in. eto can be restored to world class again. he is quicker, bettter technique, better finisher and would be better suited to arsenal play. sort out his ego wenger and we're flying!!
Eto did not want anything to do with us last year we would just be buying another ego who would shaft us if he ever did return to his best form
17 Comments · Add yours
Spot on... he good but like u say. any1 up front at arsenal should be putting 25 + away a season. replaceable. please dnt post that u want Villa. never goin to happen. Santa is a v good replacement. 1ST POST?
I have a tendancy to agree with your comments with the exception that being resiliant after missing 2 or 3 clear cut chances in a game is not a good attribute to have. In fact whilst Ade scored a 30 goals last season you could say he cost us the league with his missed chances and lack of goals in the 2nd half. SELL SELL SELL and bring in Villa or Arshavin!!!