One of the main rumours doing the rounds the last few weeks is about the future destination of wantaway Manchester City marksman Emmanuel Adebayor. With Spurs and rather surprisingly Liverpool right at the front of the queue for his signature, does a deal for him represent a viable and more importantly, valuable move for either club?
A lot of it boils down to the price. If a loan move can be struck until the end of the season, I think the deal makes a lot of sense for both Spurs and Liverpool, but with his bumper £150k+ pay packet to contend with, a full transfer would be a risk too far in my opinion.
To truly get to grips with why such a player is being pushed out by a club currently challenging for the title, we have to get to grips with the main blot against anyone signing Adebayor – his temperament, or rather lack of one. The training ground bust-up aside, where Kolo Toure rather amusingly managed to get the lanky centre forward in a headlock, Adebayor’s time in England has been littered with controversy. He’s most certainly a divisive figure, and he has the ability to cause fractures in any dressing room.
Liverpool, at present, are going through something of a rebuilding stage and whether or not returning messiah/caretaker manager Kenny Dalglish will be given significant funds to reboot his squad remains to be seen. It would be an unwise move to give significant investment to a man that might not be there come August, and unless there is a long-term plan in mind with keeping Dalglish at the club, loan moves such as the one for Adebayor may be the way forward, and with a bit of luck, could rekindle the side a bit like Nicolas Anelka’s fairly successful loan spell at the club back in 2002 under Gerard Houllier.
Spurs on the other hand, are certainly a club on the up, and with a bit of tinkering here and there, they seem to have enough about them to sustain a challenge a little while longer this term, and most certainly going into next. Van Der Vaart has been unquestionably the signing of the season so far and with 9 goals in 15 league games already, 11 in 18 across all competitions, the dynamic attacking midfielder’s goal scoring exploits have been a welcome boost for Harry Redknapp.
But, the one thing that may trouble Redknapp is the quality of his frontline. The largely ineffective Crouch, immobile Pavlyuchenko and inconsistent and so far this term, injury prone Defoe are not the calibre of strike force capable of winning you a league title. The side have largely relied on the likes of the superbly talented Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and the aforementioned Van Der Vaart this term to carry them through, and while this in itself is not a massive problem, it’s clear for all to see that for Spurs to move up a tier and truly challenge throughout the whole course of a season, they are going to have to have a more complete strike force and with this in mind, Adebayor does come into the mix.
The obvious past links to Arsenal will certainly turn most Spurs fans off the deal, but on his day, baring Didier Drogba, there is not a more imposing physical striker in the Premiership than Adebayor. The Togo international striker is a lanky, rangy forward capable of going from the absurd to the sublime in a heartbeat, but if Redknapp can get him focused on playing football once more rather than training ground dust-ups and pay packets, it could represent, in the short-term at least, a very shrewd move.
The main obstacles to any such move to either Spurs or Liverpool though remains the striker’s lofty pay packet, and the player’s preference for a permanent move. Man City would also appear to be reluctant to loan a potentially match-winning player to a rival in Spurs.
Personally, I think if a loan move can be agreed, and a deal done to take a large proportion, if not all of his wages on, there are few better loan deals available at this moment in time. Liverpool need another striker to share the load with and help out worn down striker Fernando Torres, and with real investment not available until the summer, especially considering the identity of the club’s next manager is a contentious issue to say the least, Adebayor could provide a short term fix as it were and in the meantime help to put himself in the shop window for the summer if he rediscovers his touch.
For Spurs, it’s quite simple, he provides extra firepower to a club competing on more fronts this season than ever before, and that in itself is a hugely beneficial asset to have, whether it be in the starting eleven or in reserve on the bench.
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