Is Tottenham’s Adebayor The Signing Of The Season?

There are some names in football that, upon hearing, leaves the listener with a distinctly bad taste in the mouth. Such names include the “sewer-rat” El-Hadj Diouf and the increasingly fragile Sergio Busquets, who faints at the slightest breeze which drifts through the door.

And then there are football players like Emmanuel Adebayor. Players who are utterly flexible in the attitudes shown towards them and players who will probably always through reckless mistakes divide crowds and opinions.

The Togolese beast signed for Arsenal five years ago now and impressed in his first season with his powerhouse displays and, unbelievably, a relatively good work ethic which, until his signing to Tottenham, was rarely praised as he joined the newly-minted Manchester City and basked in a brand new mega-bucks contract.

There are bad memories of Adebayor – telling Bendtner that he is “shit” and pining and whining for a move to Italy or Spain only for absolutely no interest to come in for the then Arsenal forward, and leaving him to slither back to the Emirates with his head hung low. He raked his studs against the head of Robin Van Persie, he slid on all fours in front of enraged Gooners who (quite literally) were baying for his blood. He fell out of favour at Manchester City as the months droned on yet impressed us all with his calm and easy-going demeanour on the BBC’s world cup coverage.

Then came his loan spell at Real Madrid. A new start, a new culture and a completely new side of Adebayor emerged which, incredibly, has contributed to the fact that this term he may well be considered to be the signing of the season. At the Bernabeu and under the motivational hands of Jose Mourinho Adebayor polished his performances and got back to scoring goals regularly; he won a trophy which will earmark him to slot perfectly into Tottenham’s hungry, ambitious squad.

And, though it is a wild guess and a sensitive issue, perhaps the horrifying attack of his teams bus pm their way to the African Cup of Nations provided him to extra motivation to succeed.

With fingers well and truly crossed, the man looks as though he’s entered a stage in his career where he wants to be remembered for the player he is rather than the colourful yet often imbecilic legacy he left in England.

It would be silly to call Adebayor the signing of the season so far as it is still in its infant stage. But the man is 27 and he has impressed Harry Redknapp and some of the more uneasy Spurs fans immensely with his towering, selfless performances as of late.

Adebayor won’t dazzle us like Aguero with savvy footwork or passes packed with guile and class. He is, however, an absolute monster of a centre forward: good pace for a large man, the ability to work the keeper from outside the box, a known finisher with an impressive record in England and, of course, he fits in perfectly well with Spurs and their tactics.

He fills the ‘big man’ role that Crouch abdicated quite perfectly – and Tottenham oh so desperately needed a striker. They simply couldn’t go on much longer with the aforementioned beanpole – a man who despite being 6 foot 7 is pretty bad at actually planting his head on the ball. Adebayor can link up with the impressive Van der Vaart and hold up the play while Defoe makes one of his darting runs – he can link play as well.

There is a possible argument that, looking at how Tottenham struggled with goals from strikers last year, they may have qualified with the Champions League had Adebayor been bought then and not now.

I dislike Harry Redknapp but the old beanbag fished out a clever deal here. On loan and on a high, Adebayor matches Tottenham in what he wishes to achieve. Spurs will have felt the pang of losing out on Champions League football last year to their great rivals City whereas Adebayor’s fall into anonymity seems to have motivated him and Real Madrid was the perfect place for him to showcase the talents he already has and mentality he has just acquired. They are both hungry for success.

The signing of the season cannot be based on purely goals and assists but how much the buyer needed the player and how the player improved and developed his play; how his performances are vital to what they aim to achieve. And, to reiterate my point, my lord how Spurs needed Adebayor.

The only danger is of Adebayor retiring to his lazy, unsporting behaviour where he feels his job has been done and refuses to go that extra mile for the team. Therefore, it is in the nitty gritty – the crux of the upcoming season where the large and at the moment in charge Togo man with four goals in four games will show his true worth.

It is the middle of the season, the games where Spurs are losing by two and need a roving, bullying Adebayor to pull out all the stops where his transformation will be finalised.

But for now this version of Adebayor is pleasing to watch and brilliant for Spurs fans to witness. His attempted ascent parallels Tottenham’s in every which way; a match made in heaven, if you will.

And as the campaign blossoms, only Adebayor can stop Adebayor becoming the signing of the season.