Emmanuel Adebayor has never crossed a bridge he’s not happy to burn to the ground once safely across to the other side. Sometimes he doesn’t even wait that long.
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So it comes as absolutely no surprise that Crystal Palace’s newest forward is relishing Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round clash with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, his latest former stomping grounds as of his release from contract in September.
How much is Adebayor looking forward to his chance to stick it to Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, who’m he says “made everything complicated” with regard to his departure from north London? Let’s let Ade have the honor of telling us — quotes from the Guardian:
“If I score against Tottenham, trust me, I am going to celebrate because I am on the pitch to score. If I was going to score and not celebrate, trust me, I will tell the manager I would rather not play. What is the point of being on the pitch and scoring goals and not celebrating?”
…
“With the club itself, it wasn’t a good relationship with the chairman, Daniel Levy, as he made everything complicated. But at the end of the day, I know where I am from and if you want something, you have to stand strong for it, and I stand strong for what I think.
“My relationship with Pochettino was beautiful. I think we have a very, very good relationship with man-to-man conversations. We always talk and he told me at the time: ‘Emmanuel, I can’t count on you anymore,’ and I understood that. I realized my time at Tottenham was over and I moved on.”
First things first, Adebayor couldn’t be more right to celebrate his goal on Sunday, should he score one. Clubs show players no more loyalty than players do clubs these days, and Palace is the club paying his wages now; a player’s career only lasts so long and should be enjoyed as such; not to mention, Adebayor hardly endeared himself to Spurs fans during his four seasons at the club.
We’re talking about a man who once upon a time ran the length of the field in order to celebrate in front of his former club’s fans. Adebayor is a troll, and a beautiful one at that. Of course he’s going to celebrate on Sunday like it’s the first goal he’s ever scored, and whatever you think of him, he’d be doing his current club and fans a disservice if he didn’t.
