Tottenham’s duty of care to Emmanuel Adebayor

If there is one player in the Premier League era who sums up the concept of the footballing mercenary, it is Emmanuel Adebayor.

Throughout his career he has been unapologetic in his pursuit of money, and in flaunting his wealth. He has extracted maximum dollar for his services at all times, no matter how that irks fans and former employers.

So the idea that this guy may be in need of help, rather than a firm kick up the backside or just booting out of the door altogether, isn’t one that sits easily.

Adebayor has has one incredible gift that has attracted multi-million pound contract after multi-million pound contract: the ability to score goals. In his club career, which has included spells at Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid before Spurs, he has scored 134 goals in 360 games. So valuable is this gift, all past behaviour can be forgotten by chairmen, managers, fans and any other potential beneficiaries.

[linequote]Throughout his career he has been unapologetic in his pursuit of money, and in flaunting his wealth.[/linequote]

But in the last year, his career has stalled horribly. Spurs have desperately tried to offload him through the past two windows, without success. A move to West Ham last winter collapsed due to the limits of the largesse Daniel Levy was prepared to extend to West Ham, understandable given the generosity West Ham has already received from the British taxpayer.

But even before then, things were starting to get strange.

First, in December last year, Emmanuel Adebayor told a Ghanaian radio station that his mother had put a juju, or black magic, curse on him to stop him from scoring.

His brother claimed that Adebayor had fallen under the influence of Muslim “alfas” who had brainwashed him.

The story seemed laughable at the time, certainly not something that was supposed to generate sympathy. Awful people, doing awful things, like something they might stick on a Channel 4 “documentary”.

In the months that followed, Adebayor embarked on a series of long Facebook posts detailing the poor behaviour of his brothers. Again, this was treated generally as an “Ade being Ade” story, though the rambling tone of the Facebook posts and the fact that he had even felt the need to share such minutiae of the Adebayor family shittery was eyebrow raising.

This summer, moves to Aston Villa and then West Ham (again) collapsed in bizarre circumstances. According to the Telegraph’s Matt Law:

Emmanuel Adebayor killed off any chance of playing football again before January after rejecting a Tottenham Hotspur pay-off and turning down a host of summer moves on the advice of his pastor.

The future of Adebayor has been one of the sagas of the summer and Telegraph Sport can reveal that he not only demanded huge money to leave Spurs, but also pulled out of a move to Aston Villa because he claimed he needed a sign from God.

[…]

Spurs were willing to pay Adebayor his £100,000-a-week wages until such time as he found a new club and supplement any shortfall he incurred by playing elsewhere, but refused to cave in to his sky-high demands.

With minutes of the transfer window remaining, Adebayor is understood to have signed the contract termination paper on Tottenham’s terms but changed his mind at the last minute and ruined any hopes of a move.

[…]

West Ham last week made Adebayor an offer to move to Upton Park on loan, but the former Woolwich man did not turn up for a scheduled medical, leaving Hammers and Spurs officials in the dark over his whereabouts, and requested more time to think about the switch.

First things first, if the summer dramas were ultimately just about extracting maximum coin from the situation, Adebayor’s strategy made no sense.

If he went on loan, he was never in danger of losing money. His contract would be paid in full — it was down to the clubs to discuss how they split the cost (Villa offered to pay in full, unbelievably). From a financial perspective, while there was no short-term chance of earning MORE money, scoring a dozen goals in a mediocre Villa side would surely guarantee another big contract, somewhere.

If the deadline day shenanigans was really a game of brinkmanship, it was poorly thought through. Daniel Levy was NEVER going to pay off Adebayor’s contract in full, and then allow him to sign a new deal ON TOP of that. There would be no benefit in allowing a rival to strengthen at Spurs’ expense, so the better of two bad options was to eat his contract and see him rot. Of course, you could make the Machiavellian argument that Adebayor may weaken West Ham rather than strengthen them, but that would be a dangerous gamble and you’d hope our chairman wasn’t going down that route, all things considered.

[fullquote]It is hard for someone with pride, especially someone who seemingly has everything, to accept that they need help.[/fullquote]

If Adebayor’s goal this summer was to earn more money, then a move to the Middle East or China would have been the obvious solution. If Asamoah Gyan can become the world’s highest paid player by moving to Shanghai, then imagine what Adebayor could earn. This is a guy who has played for Real Madrid. I should note the deadline for the Qatar transfer window is Sept. 30, so this could happen yet.

That Spurs would not name him in our Premier League or Europa League squads despite having spaces left suggests he is no longer selectable. If Adebayor’s problem was about money, or pride, or football, you would think he could be registered — at least keep the door open, just in case, especially given the dearth of attacking options.

To me, the statements about Adebayor requiring signs from God before making a decision on his career are an order of magnitude above family fallouts or Facebook rants in terms of seriousness. One has to wonder about the state of mind Adebayor is in now.

Around the world, every days billions of people make decisions with God in mind — that is what it is to be a believer. But waiting for a sign from God before making a specific decision is a whole different ball game. This is delusional behaviour. Even the most devout Christian or Muslim (I’m not quite sure which one Adebayor is currently, which may have been a humorous sentence a while back but isn’t at all funny now) would not expect a sign from God before deciding on a career choice. It is almost irreligious in a way, thinking that you as an individual warrant such an intervention.

Requiring approval of your Pastor is also quite extreme, and raises serious questions about who Adebayor is seeking company with and putting his trust in. His Pastor may be a good man, who is of great help to Adebayor. But he may not be. Wealthy sportsmen attract quacks and shamans and hangers-on like raw meat attracts flies.

If there is anyone at Spurs who suspects that the delusions may be real, and that he has lost control of important yet straightforward career decisions due to either his poor mental state or due to the influence of unsavory characters, then they should attempt to help him. The fact that the club granted him compassionate leave to sort out the problem with his mother shows an awareness that all isn’t right. That doesn’t make it wrong that they tried to offload him this summer, by the way.

Yes, he may be crying wolf. Yes, it may just be some botched financial leverage play. Yes, he may just no longer want to play football and just wants to pick up one final year’s salary. But it may be something more serious.

[linequote]One has to wonder about the state of mind Adebayor is in now.[/linequote]

I started writing this article before MTC’s piece on depression — but if you want an illustration of what that illness can mean for those who suffer it, please read it. I’m not suggesting Adebayor has depression — I have no idea what is going on inside his head. But whatever is going on, it doesn’t look pretty.

If there is one club in England that knows what happens when one of its stars crumbles mentally, it is Spurs. Adebayor will of course never be Gazza. In fact I can’t think of one person in the whole of football who has earned less sympathy than Adebayor. But he is still a Tottenham player, and is a human being.

He may not want the help. It is hard for someone with pride, especially someone who seemingly has everything, to accept that they need help. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be offered. There are world-leading professionals in London, and Spurs have a first-class medical team.

I trust that Spurs, as conscientious organisation that has proven it is capable of compassionate behaviour, will accept that it has a duty of care to Adebayor, no matter what he has done in the past and no matter how much his contract is costing.

Oddly, I hope this situation is just another example of Adebayor being Adebayor. Not giving a s**t about the people who pay him, or the fans who used to cheer him, or the coaches who have helped him. Just wanting more money, a cushier deal, and his ego stroked.

Because the alternative is worse.