A Sad Tale of Emmanuel(s)
Doesn’t it make you sick. We are missing not one Emmanuel (Adebayor) but two (Eboue).
We (Arsenal) need a top grade striker to complement RVP – who may get injured or in due course may leave ?
Plus we have 4 full backs injured. So we have to field Djourou at right back. Johan has become a liability in central defence – let alone right back where he will be found out for sure.
Eboue : Yes, the poor s*d they booed off whenever it was. Mind you, I always thought that was as much the crowd’s dislike of Arsene’s game plan as Eboue himself. But then he ended up a bit of a fan’s favourite – and not only because he was a pantomime style diver.
Why did we sell him for some £3m? I suppose because it was £3m now – aged 28 – compared with £0.5 m in 4 years time? The fact remains he was not a bad right back and he did OK at right midfield (where Arsene insisted he played). He filled in a couple of times at left back and also played OK in central midfield. He was quite skilful and definitely fast.
This Emmanuel got into the 1st team in 2005/6 and made nearly 300 appearances. This despite Sagna arriving in 2007/8. So he must have done something right. We could do with him now. No full backs fit and not likely to be till (hopefully) we do a loan deal or something in January? Vermaelen played well at full back on Saturday but he is surely our best central defender?
Adebayor : Yes, the one we like to hate. He came to Arsenal from Monaco for £7m. as a strong, raw Togo guy in 2006. He learned a lot – from Thierry and others. We all remember 2007/08 when he led the line, played nearly every game and scored 30 goals (plus 5 assists) in 48 outings. After that it was all downhill. Once he had ‘made it ‘ he became a temperamental malcontent. We got £25m for him in 2009 and he then made himself equally unpopular at both Manshitty and Real Madrid.
They say he is on £170,000 per week of which the gushing oil wells still pay £100,000. Apparently Spuds have a wage ceiling of a mere £70,000 per week (how on earth do their players manage??) This Emmanuel refuses to take a wage cut (and to be fair he pays for a lot of charity work in Africa). He is in a strong position. Why? Because – let’s face it, he is seriously good … big, strong, fast and streetwise. His ball skills are different class from when he first arrived at Arsenal. He will never come back, partly because we would not have him back. Arsene tried to bring Anelka back but the Directors said … NO.
Anyway, if life had been different and Adebayor had been a reasonable bloke … he could have played for Arsenal throughout and still have 5 years left. We could certainly do with him now.
I haven’t visited the Spuds changing room recently and don’t know if he has found some maturity at last. But it may well be Tottenham who reap the benefits. How ironic is that.
Christophe Szatynski
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