Meet The Players

Emmanuel Adebayor (born 26 February 1984 in Lomé) is a Togolese football player of Nigerian descent who currently plays for Arsenal.

[edit] Club career

Adebayor started his professional career at a training camp in Lomé. He made it to the U-15 level and was spotted by French club FC Metz. After a trial, Adebayor joined the club in 1999 and played at the U-17 level for two years before joining the first team. In his first season, he played nine games and scored twice. In the 2002–03 season, Adebayor scored seventeen goals in 35 games. AS Monaco signed him to a contract in 2003, and he scored seven goals in seventeen appearances, helping them reach the Champions League final with two goals in ten games.

[edit] Arsenal

On January 13, 2006, Adebayor signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee reported to be £7m. He was given the nickname "Baby Kanu" due to his resemblance to former Arsenal star Nwankwo Kanu, whom Adebayor had idolized as a youth.[1]

In fact there are some accusations from pundits that Kanu and Adebayor are the same person. The theory being inter alia that they look identical, have the same playing style, and they wear/wore the same number for both Arsenal (25) and their national sides (4). Have you ever seen them in the same room together? What a strange coincidence that Kanu left the Gunners just as Adebayor joined: some journalists have coined this the biggest "same person" football controversy since Alrdidge/Rush-gate of the mid 80s, when Rush supposedly was transferred to Juventus from Liverpool just as the equally moustachioed Aldo arrived at Anfield.

On February 4, 2006, Adebayor made his Arsenal debut in a Premiership match at Birmingham City F.C. and scored after 21 minutes; Arsenal won 2–0. At the end of his first season for the Gunners he had scored four goals in ten matches. However, Adebayor was cup-tied for Arsenal's 2005–06 Champions League run and missed the final against FC Barcelona, as he had appeared for Monaco in the qualifying rounds.

Adebayor scored Arsenal's winning goal against Manchester United to give Arsenal a 1–0 win at Old Trafford, their first league win of the 2006–07 season. Earlier in the game, Adebayor was brought down in the six-yard box to earn Arsenal a penalty, which was taken by Gilberto Silva and saved. On November 8, 2006, Adebayor scored the only goal of the match to send Arsenal into the quarter finals of the League Cup against Everton F.C.

He was sent off in Arsenal's 2–1 Carling Cup final loss to Chelsea. He was shown the red card after a fracas towards the end of the match involving both Chelsea and Arsenal players. It was alleged that he had thrown a punch at Frank Lampard. The FA subsequently gave him an additional one-match ban and a fine of £7500 for failing to leave the field of play immediately, as well as a three-match ban for the red card.

After scoring a penalty during the 3–1 win over Portsmouth, his two goals against Tottenham helped Arsenal win 3–1 in the first North London derby of the season. Adebayor then scored his first hat-trick for Arsenal in a 5–0 home win against Derby County F.C. on September 22, 2007; this was the second-ever hat-trick scored at the Emirates. He was involved in a controversial incident on January 23, 2008, in which he clashed with teammate Nicklas Bendtner seven minutes from the end of a 5–1 League Cup semi-final defeat to Tottenham. Bendtner appeared to cut his nose in the clash, for which Adebayor apologised the following day.[2] Three days later he scored the hundredth goal at Emirates during the side's 3-0 FA Cup victory over Newcastle United F.C.[3]

Arsenal fans celebrate Adebayor by chanting "Ade-bay-or, Ade-bay-or".[4] It is sung to the tune of Westminster Chimes. On 19 January 2008, after scoring twice against Fulham, the fans sang, "Adebayor, Adebayor, give him the ball, and he will score".[5]

[edit] International career

On the international front, Adebayor helped Togo qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by scoring eleven goals in the qualifiers, more than any other player in the African qualifiers. He has been nominated for African Footballer of the Year.

He was called up for the 2006 African Cup of Nations, where he was a substitute for the country's first match, following a row with the coach. Adebayor first vowed to leave the tournament and return home, although he later resumed training with the side.[6] Togo were eliminated after losing all three matches. He was dropped by Togo following the row over bonus payments.[7] However, Adebayor was brought back into the Togo team in September 2007.