Background and career
Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor (French pronunciation: [ɛmanɥɛl adəbɛjɔʁ]; born 26 February 1984) is a Togolese former professional footballer who played as a striker. During his career, he played for English clubs Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace, as well as French side Metz, Monégasque team Monaco, Spanish team Real Madrid, Turkish clubs İstanbul Başakşehir and Kayserispor, Paraguay's Club Olimpia and Togolese club Semassi. He was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2008 while playing at Arsenal, and during his latter career, when he joined Olimpia Asunción in 2020, he became the highest paid player in Paraguay. Adebayor represented the Togo national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the country's debut, and to date only, appearance at the World Cup. In January 2010, Adebayor was one of the players involved when the Togo team's bus came under gunfire on the way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, after which he retired from national team duty. In 2013, he returned to the Togo team for the 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa, where he helped them to qualify for the quarter-finals. He is Togo's all-time top goalscorer with 32 goals.
Adebayor was spotted playing for Sporting Club de Lomé by scouts from Metz, who brought him to France in 1999. He made his Ligue 1 debut against Sochaux on 17 November 2001. Following Metz's relegation, he played a season in Ligue 2, where 13 goals in 34 league matches prompted a summer 2003 move to Monaco. He featured nine times in Europe as Monaco reached the 2004 UEFA Champions League final against Porto in Gelsenkirchen, for which he was an unused substitute in his club's 3–0 loss.
On 13 January 2006, Premier League club Arsenal signed Adebayor for a reported £3 million. He was given the nickname "Baby Kanu" due to his resemblance to former Arsenal star Nwankwo Kanu, whom Adebayor had idolised as a youth. On 4 February 2006, Adebayor made his Arsenal debut in a Premier League match at Birmingham City and scored after 21 minutes, with Arsenal winning 2–0. Adebayor was cup-tied for Arsenal's run to the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. 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 match, Adebayor was brought down in the six-yard box to earn Arsenal a penalty, which was taken by Gilberto Silva and saved.
Adebayor was sent off in the 2007 League Cup final which Arsenal lost 2–1 to Chelsea. He was shown a 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 £7,500 for failing to leave the field of play immediately, as well as a three-match ban for the red card. Adebayor and Lampard both denied it. On 15 September 2007, Adebayor's two goals against Tottenham Hotspur 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 on 22 September; this was the second-ever hat-trick scored at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. He was involved in a controversial incident on 22 January 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. Three days later, he scored the 100th goal at the Emirates during the side's 3–0 FA Cup victory over Newcastle United. Starting on 4 March against Milan, Adebayor went on a goalscoring streak in the Champions League. Despite having never scored before in the competition, he scored a goal in the second leg against Milan at the San Siro. On 28 April, Adebayor scored his second hat-trick for Arsenal after coming off the bench at half time in a 6–2 victory against Derby County, making him the only player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick home and away against the same side in the same season. Although Arsenal finished the season empty handed, he was named in the PFA Team of the Year. Adebayor's second goal against Tottenham won Match of the Day's Goal of the Season competition for the 2007–08 season. He was also awarded the BBC African Footballer of the Year for his performance in 2008. In the 2008 summer transfer window, he was linked with £30 million moves to Milan and Barcelona, but later signed a new long-term contract at Arsenal. On 13 September 2008, Adebayor scored a hat trick in Arsenal's 4–0 win away to Blackburn Rovers, scoring his first league goals of the 2008–09 season. Adebayor received his first red card of the season in a 1–1 draw with Liverpool after an altercation with opposing defender Álvaro Arbeloa; this was his second bookable offence of the game and therefore served a one-match ban. On 8 February, Adebayor suffered a hamstring injury in Arsenal's 0–0 draw against Tottenham. The injury would keep him out for almost two months, despite initial estimations suggesting only a three-week absence. He made a goalscoring return to action, scoring a brace on his return against Manchester City. On 7 April 2009, Adebayor equalized a goal for Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Villarreal, in which he chested the ball into his control and then performed a bicycle kick. In the return leg at the Emirates a week later, he scored in a 3–0 Arsenal win, setting up a semi-final showdown with Manchester United. Adebayor, however, was injured for the last two Premier League matches and finished the season as Arsenal's second top goalscorer in all competitions with 16, behind Robin van Persie's 20.
On 18 July 2009, Adebayor signed a five-year contract with Manchester City for a transfer fee believed to be in the region of £25 million. He scored a goal on his debut for City against Blackburn with a shot from 18 yards in the third minute. On his home debut, Adebayor scored in the 17th minute in a 1–0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, assisted by fellow summer signing Carlos Tevez. He scored in his third consecutive Premier League match, heading the winner in a 1–0 away victory against Portsmouth. Adebayor then scored in his fourth consecutive match, this time against former club Arsenal in a 4–2 victory at the City of Manchester Stadium. After completing an acrimonious £25.5m transfer from North London, he enraged the visiting support by running the full length of the pitch and performing a provocative goal celebration. In the match against Arsenal, Adebayor's former teammate Robin van Persie also accused him of deliberately kicking him in the face, and he was later handed a three-match ban after being found guilty of violent conduct. Manchester City manager Mark Hughes suggested Adebayor did it because he wanted to be loved by City fans. Moreover, Arsenal's former Cameroonian defensive midfielder Alex Song, who is one of Adebayor's closest friends in football, alleged he was slapped in the face by Adebayor during City's 4–2 victory, while Cesc Fàbregas, former Arsenal captain, felt that Adebayor had also tried to stamp on him. For the start of the 2010–11 season, Adebayor was given the number 9 shirt instead of his favoured number 25, which he previously wore at Arsenal and City. He scored his first hat-trick for City on 21 October in a UEFA Europa League group stage match against Lech Poznań. In doing so, he became the first Manchester City player to score a hat-trick in a European competition. During the 2010–11 season, however, Adebayor fell down the pecking order at Manchester City following the club purchasing Edin Džeko, with Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli also being chosen ahead of him. In August 2011, Roberto Mancini confirmed that Adebayor, along with Craig Bellamy, were no longer part of his plans and could leave Manchester City.
On 25 January 2011, Adebayor signed a loan deal to play for Real Madrid for the remainder of the 2010–11 season. Adebayor scored his first goal for Real Madrid in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The game ended 2–0 with an aggregate score of 3–0. The following weekend, he scored his first goal in La Liga against Real Sociedad, again at the Santiago Bernabéu. The game ended 4–1 and Adebayor scored the last goal within the last 3 minutes of the game. On 6 March 2011, Adebayor scored the opening goal in the 24th minute against Racing de Santander from a Mesut Özil pass. Real Madrid won the match 3–1. Adebayor was heavily criticised for his performance against Sporting de Gijón, especially for missing many chances; the match ended 0–1 to Sporting. Adebayor added two goals to his European tally for Madrid with goals against Tottenham Hotspur in a 4–0 win on 5 April 2011. He won his first winner's medal at Real Madrid on 20 April, coming on as a second-half substitute in his side's 1–0 win over Barcelona in the 2011 Copa del Rey final. Adebayor scored his first hat-trick for Real Madrid on 21 May 2011, in the last round of the 2010–11 La Liga season, against Almería. In that match, Real Madrid beat Almería 8–1. Adebayor returned to Manchester City after the Spanish season had finished, but was omitted from their pre-season tour of the United States on 11 July 2011 and later risked a £300,000 fine for refusing to train with the club's reserve and youth teams.
