Stranger things have happened in football! Shrewd Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has spoken in praise of City loan star Emmanuel Adebayor today. Buttering the ex Gooner up?
This correspondent knows that Arsenal’s support fell deeply out of love with Adebayor in the run up to his departure to City but I never really got the impression he wanted to leave them. Certainly his notoriously demented show of revenge at Eastlands after scoring against them needs no introduction, but could they ever warm to taking him back into the fold?
That self same support warned us on Vital Network pages that Mark Hughes was signing trouble but the Togolese hitman hit the ground running at City yet seemingly never fully recovered from the horror of the Togo team bus suffering a terrorist attack.
Something wasn’t right and Roberto Mancini, in a season where City must deliver deemed Adebayor a passenger. Despite 15 league goals in 27 City starts, Adebayor was made available to join City’s mini squad of loan stars heading for Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid.
Wenger told arsenal.com today:
‘Adebayor didn’t play anymore at Manchester City. He is a talented player and it’s a waste for him not to play. It is a good decision from Adebayor and a good decision from Real Madrid in my opinion.
‘Adebayor needs to gain confidence again and to play at his best because he was going nowhere at Manchester City. Both Adebayor and Real Madrid can be winners.’
Tellingly, Wenger makes a point of emphasising that he and his management team didn’t perceive the striker to be a problem player:
‘He is a nice guy..overall, he is not a difficult guy. We had no problem with Adebayor on a daily basis…He was likable, he did his job well.’
Maybe a permanent Ade move to Real Madrid is not a foregone conclusion.
The question is would either Arsenal or indeed City be prepared to give him a second chance?
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