da leao： I can’t quite work out whether Emmanuel Adebayor is a raging tiger craving to be released onto the field or a petulant child who goes off in a huff when things don’t go his way. Either way he is a difficult character to manage as we have seen at Arsenal and Manchester City. Harry Redknapp is the latest manager who will take up the whip and try to tame the infuriating Togolese striker. But is he the man to finally channel his talents on the field?
da jogodeouro： It was only two years ago that Manchester City so desperately paid Arsenal £25 million for his services and slapped a deal worth £175,000-a-week in front of his face. It was like putting a slab of raw meat into the corner of a cage and enticing a tiger to come and feast on it. At the time Adebayor was at the top of his game. He’d filled the void left by Thierry Henry at the Emirates Stadium and was banging in goals left, right and centre. It’s fair to say he was one of the best strikers in the Premier League.
Mega bucks City wanted to build a team capable of challenging for the title and on the European front and identified the languid striker to spearhead a new era in the blue half of Manchester. At the going rate £25 million was a bit steep but they could afford it and for the first eight or nine games it looked like Adebayor would be worth every penny as he continued where he’d left off in North London. But bubbling under the surface was a player who, in my opinion, had a volatile personality battling to stay break through his relaxed demeanour.
Things quickly went downhill with Adebayor becoming more of a misfit than a marvel, which oddly coincided with the arrival of Roberto Mancini. The Italian didn’t see him as the focal point of City’s attack, which is fair enough and slowly but surely forced him out of the first team picture. This summer he decided to boycott City’s pre-training, speaking out against Mancini and the board at the Etihad Stadium. The wrong way to go about things, but it happened and now he’s at Tottenham with a chance to prove he isn’t the disruptive influence many make him out to be.
Redknapp has a massive task on his hands to get Adebayor back to the level he was at just before he left Arsenal. Personally I think the Spurs boss has the managerial style that will get the best out of the ex-Gunners man. Adebayor isn’t a raging tiger ready to be released into the wilds of the Premier League. No, he’s a petulant child who needs a strong arm and attention lavished upon him. Two things that he CRAVES are attention and reassurance from his manager. He doesn’t respond well to criticism and if he is constantly lambasted by the press and fans he needs his manager there to wipe away the tears and tell him he’ll still be the main man. Even if it’s Redknapp lying through his teeth he’ll do it to get the best out of Adebayor.
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In 28 years as a manager Redknapp will have had to contend with a varied degree of personalities. In that time he will have built up an extensive knowledge bank of how to deal with players who take a turn for the juvenile when things don’t go their way or they are being condemned for a poor performance. The 64-year-old will have studied what happened with Adebayor at City and will adapt to meet his requirements. Could that potentially alienate other members of the squad? I believe that offering that little bit of extra attention to him will be worth it in the long run for Spurs.
Everyone knows that on his day he is simply unplayable. He has the raw pace, power and a knack of scoring goals that Spurs are missing. Redknapp has been chasing Adebayor all summer and now he’s in possession of the striker he’ll need to do his best to accommodate Adebayor. If he doesn’t then expect another tantrum, which could potentially disrupt the Spurs dressing room and harm their chances of Champions League qualification because that’s where Redknapp wants Adebayor to lead them too. This one will be interesting!