*A former associate proffers solution

By Jacob Ajom

Captain of Togo national team, Emmanuel Adebayor is in the news again. This time for all the wrong reasons. Adebayor who became a free agent at the end of last season, after a stint with Crystal Palace was reported to have been contacted by Coach of Olympique Lyon,  Bruno Genesio for a possible contract. The talks that followed fell through as the French club boss backed out of the deal for reasons Adebayor described as ‘frivolous’. It is just one of the many battles Adebayor has had to battle with in his troubled career.

Emmanuel Adebayor arrived Arsenal in the 2006 season from Monaco. He was given the number 4 jersey, made popular by lanky former Nigeria forward, Nwankwo Kanu. He did not disappoint as he won the hearts of Arsenal faithful with his Kanu-like skills and plenty of goals.

In 2009, Adebayor was shipped out of Arsenal under acrimonious circumstances and sold to Manchester City. In 2011, City loaned him to Real Madrid where he had a remarkable season with the  Galacticos. After the loan spell in Spain, Adebayor returned to Manchester City but was soon loaned out again, this time, to Tottenham.

Spurs bought him at the end of the season. That was where and when his travails started.

Emmanuel Adebayor

In the 2012/13 season, Emmanuel Adebayor scored 14 goals in 25 games for Tottenham. In the succeeding season however, the Togo international netted only 2 goals in 12 matches. Adebayor could not stomach it and soon went to town with a bizarre claim, that because his family members were performing black magic on him, his goals had dried up.

It was sometime  in  November, 2014  that Adebayor, who is of Nigerian descent accused his mother of performing ‘juju’ (a West African term for black magic) on him.

Earlier, the Togo international was accused by his brother, Kola of sacking their mother from the house he built for the family. Kola told the Sun in 2014, “Eight months ago he kicked his own mother out of her house. She is having to sell tomatoes to survive. She makes one or two euros a day — which is not enough to live on.

“This is the woman who suffered for all of us and carried him in her stomach for nine months. This is the son she gave birth to and looked after all his life.”

But the striker denied this, even as he insisted that members of his family were working tirelessly in seeing to his downfall.

He told Ghanaian radio station Peace FM: ‘Obviously I’m not a pastor, I am a footballer so I cannot point out a witch. I never sacked my mum from the house — she decided to leave the house.

‘But how am I going to be in touch with my mum if my mum is the one telling everyone that my work will not go forward.

‘They should stop talking, they should stop doing juju on me — they should leave me alone.’

Adebayor’s mother, Alice 68, was left heartbroken when she heard of the son’s claim.

Ever since the former Arsenal star fell out with his family and mother in particular, he has never found peace.

He has had the most troubled career in recent history. After a troubled spell at Tottenham, Adebayor was a free agent at the end of the 2015 season. He moved to

Crystal Palace. He featured in 15 games but scored just once.

Adebayor explained why he struggled at Crystal Palace. “I’ve been playing at the highest level for 15 years and I have worked with some of the best coaches in the world – Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Didier Deschamps, Roberto Mancini,” Adebayor said. “It’s the first time I’ve been in a team battling relegation and the play didn’t suit me.”

Lately, there was a ray of hope for the troubled Togo international when Coach Bruno Genesio  of Olympique Lyon, a French Lique 1 side indicated interest in him.

The Ligue 1 club had considered a move for the 32-year-old free agent due to Alexandre Lacazette’s injury, despite also signing 19-year-old Jean-Philippe Mateta from third-tier Chateauroux. The deal fell through as he was said to have refused to pull out of the Africa Cup of Nations in January.

Adebayor angrily accused the French club of a “ridiculous excuse” for opting not to sign him.

But now Genesio has revealed the real reason for the collapse.

“We had a place in our squad for Manu, so I arranged to meet him for a coffee in Lyon,” he is quoted as saying by the Sun.

“But, to my surprise, when he arrived he asked for a shot of whisky in his coffee. He also had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.”

The twist in the Lyon talks has been attributed to the effect of the negative press that followed the squabbles the former Man City striker had with his family and his mother in particular.

A former close associate of the Togo international who pleaded anonymity told this writer that unless Adebayor returns to his mother and renders an apology, nothing good would ever come his way again. “All he needs do is to go and bring his mother back and apologize to her. Until he does that, his travails may continue. God is watching. He listened to some juju men who claimed to be seers.

They wanted his money and fabricated stories which he believed and estranged his mother, the woman that made it possible for him to even go to Europe in the first place. It is bizarre. He has to aplogise to the mother and commit himself to God and not juju men. He may still play one or two more good seasons but if he does not retrace his steps it is a pity his career will end in this sad state. “