Spurs’ Erstwhile Migraine/Striker Signs for Crystal Palace

Though he has not played a game of professional football since May 3rd of last year – and hasn’t had a club at all since September – former Spurs striker Emmanuel Adebayor might actually be something of a solution for Crystal Palace.

Alan Pardew is in desperate need of a striker after it was announced that Connor Wickham is set to be banned for three matches for an elbow thrown at Spurs’ centre-back Jan Vertonghen on Saturday. Apparently that desperation reach such heights as to make Adebayor look like an attractive option.

It’s not every day that a Spurs blog covers another club’s signing of a former player. There is some lingering sentiment for the Togolese striker, though, and it’s worth revisiting how and why Adebayor ran out his welcome at Spurs.

There was a time – barely over a year and a half ago – where Adebayor was a bonified hero for the club, having scored 11 goals and setting up 5 assists in his last 20 appearances of the season. Those goals were a tremendous part of keeping Tottenham in some kind of contention that season, even if they still fell short from their target fourth place by ten points.

Prior to that, Adebayor had been well on his way out the door after a string of uninspiring performances. Much like Mauricio Pochettino would later do much more successfully, André Villas-Boas had attempted to freeze him out of the squad by having him play with the under-21s and not naming him to matchday squads.

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Adebayor was granted a reprieve with the appointment of Tim Sherwood, and began to look every bit the player the club had signed back in 2011. Until another slump hit. It took another season, but the club eventually declined to give him a third chance.

Spurs have parted with many players over the years, some because they weren’t good enough, some because they were too good, but never for quite the reasons Adebayor was released.

At only 31, Adebayor should still have a season or two left in him. Even in his physical prime he was never that energetic of player – certainly his style of play is one that ages well.

Indeed, were it not for everything else we know about him, Palace’s signing of Adebayor would seem like an absolute coup. Here’s a striker that’s player for Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Spurs. Where’s the downside there?

As we’ve already alluded to, the downside is in those slumps that have threatened his career for the past decade. After a season or so of being every bit the striker his clubs needed him to be, he dives into an inexplicable level of form that sees his goals dry up and his attitude deteriorate. There have been some admittedly extenuating circumstances along the way – a terrorist attack on the Togo national team’s bus, the death of his brother – but overall Adebayor hasn’t even been able to be consistent in any meaningful way.

Tragic wastes of talent like that crop up every now and then in football. Kevin-Prince Boateng springs to mind, as does Ravel Morrison. Players that have in within themselves to be actual stars but end up floundering.

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From Palace’s perspective, it could be that all they actually want from Adebayor is one half season of decent football. That’s something he’s proven himself capable of doing before. If he can even be a semi-regular provider of goals, that could be all the difference to a team that’s slowly lost its grip on a campaign for a spot in Europe.

For Spurs, though, he’ll always be the closest thing to the one that got away.