Emmanuel Adebayor was once regarded as the Premier League striker with the most clinical finishing. The Togolese has played for a number of important English Premier League clubs. Adebayor left the Premier League in 2016, but what has become of him since then?
Who Is Adebayor?
The striker was born in 1984, in Lome, Togo. Adebayor started his career with the Togolese team Agaza before moving to the French Metz academy at the age of 15, where he made his professional debut in 2001.
Football Career
Monaco bought Emmanuel Adebayor after he scored 15 goals in 44 games in his two seasons with Metz. Until 2006, he was a member of the "red and white" squad. The striker played 78 appearances for Monaco, where he was signed 18 times before joining English juggernaut Arsenal and started to bring joy to every sports betting fan with his seemingly unstoppable goal-scoring form.
Adebayor was a fan favourite at Arsenal because he knew how to score important goals for his team. The Togolese scored 46 goals in three seasons with the Emirates. Adebayor was bought by Manchester City from Arsenal in 2009.
Real Madrid, Spain's footballing giant, took notice of the striker and signed him to a six-month contract. However, Adebayor was not signed by "Los Blancos," and he only made 14 appearances for the team, scoring 5 goals.
Manchester City was displeased with the performance of the Togolese striker and sold him to Tottenham Hotspur, another North London juggernaut. This did not sit well with supporters of his former club, Arsenal. After four years at White Hart Lane, Adebayor spent six months at Crystal Palace. However, the Togolese scored only one goal in 12 Premier League appearances for the "Eagles" and was later released by the club.
International Career
Adebayor could have represented Nigeria, but he decided to play for Togo, his birthplace. Togo qualified for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations after Adebayor scored 11 goals in qualification, the most of any African player. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) named Adebayor the 2008 African Footballer of the Year at an awards event on 10 February 2009 in Lagos, Nigeria. CAF's 54 national team coaches voted, and Adebayor came out on top, beating out Egypt's Mohamed Aboutrika and Ghana's Michael Essien. Togolese footballers have never been recognized as the best in Africa.
Performance Outside Of the Premier League
Emmanuel Adebayor joined Turkish heavyweights Istanbul Basaksehir after becoming a free agent in the summer of 2016. The Togolese scored two hat-tricks against Galatasaray in a season in which he scored 17 goals in the Super League.
Adebayor's second season, however, was not as fruitful as his first, with just six goals in 26 appearances. In 2019, Adebayor agreed to a 6-month contract with Kayserispor. However, he failed to make an impact there, netting two goals in just eight games before joining Club Olimpia in Paraguay, where his contract was terminated after only four appearances in one season.
Where Is Adebayor Now?
The former Premier League top scorer presently plays for Semasi in Togo. The 38-year-old returned to his birthplace in 2021. It is also his first professional Togo club, despite the fact that he is the national team's all-time top goalscorer with 32 goals in 85 games.
Tagged in Games