The Mail reported 48 hours ago that the Togo international is on the verge of becoming the highest paid player in Tottenham Hotspur’s history.
No movement has happened on a deal yet, indicating discussions are still ongoing. You’d be right to wonder if Spurs are having second thoughts over such a commitment.
Adebayor was Tottenham’s top scorer last year, with 18 goals, and at 28 should be entering the peak of his career.
But does he warrant wages of around £115,000 a week?
Of course such a question must be viewed in context. Manchester City pay him £170,000 per week, of which Spurs paid £70,000 per week last season.
To compete with the best, many would argue you have to pay the best, and the amount Yaya Toure commands at City tops £200,000 per week.
City obviously want him off their wage bill, and Adebayor would be taking a significant cut to join Spurs, but would clearly still be repaid handsomely.
More pressing, is the £4 million signing on bonus the Mail reported Adebayor would be offered. A sum like that is obscene, and forgive the moralising, but should have no place in the modern game alongside such extortionate wages.
Clubs aren’t exactly queuing up to sign Adebayor, unless he really dropped down a level, and he should be thankful Spurs are offering a deal rather than sitting in City’s reserves.
On the pitch, he has plenty to offer – we summed up his pro’s and con’s in an article last week, but off it, the deal Tottenham are proposing – if true- appears to be too much.
Tottenham are paying through the nose for City’s extravagance, and while his transfer fee would be a snip at £6 million compared to what they would have to pay to land Leandro Damiao – £30 million.
Still Spurs fans can be forgiven for being concerned at the extravagance, if it starts with Adebayor, where does it stop?
Teammates will start seeking parity, and the whole level of Tottenham’s wage bill will creep up. If they can shift high-earning deadwood from their books, they could balance the two out.
On the article we posted last week about Adebayor, views were mixed. Some fans praised him while others commented that he was ‘too inconsistent’ and one described him as a donkey. While a small cross-section of views to assess opinion, points of view were clearly split.
The thought of making a player, an ex-Arsenal one at that, who divides opinion, the most expensive in the club’s history, may just cause a section of support to feel uneasy, even if it is the price of competing.
Is Adebayor worth the money? What about the signing-on fee?
image: © Jan Solo
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
